Surf & Turf
by KariFable
Summary: Riddoc Black, son of Nessie and Jake meets his imprint one night at a gig. He spots her on stage at a crowded bar, but after her set is over he losses her in the darkness and hordes of drunk teenagers. She's gone and all he has to track her down is the name of her band.
1. Chapter 1

Surf & Turf

Chapter one

We'd all done it, been out together and seen some girl, perfect everything and a killer smile. We'd play rock paper scissors to see who'd try and imprint on her first of course usually these occurrences came about after large quantities of alcohol, it took a lot to get a wolf drunk.

One year out of nowhere someone decided to host a music festival on first beech, usually the council elder's deterred stuff like this from going ahead, it brought in too many tourists and with that amount of people about the place it put the tribes secret in danger. But the festival's management had fallen in love with the beach and made a generous donation to the reservation one we couldn't really say no to. there was one big stage on the beach and two smaller ones, one in the parking lot and another in a local bar about a minuets walk from the beach, myself and a few of the other younger wolves were in there drinking when the closing act came on.

A lot of kids from Forks and the surrounding towns had come out and by this time the crowd was wild and a little rowdy. I was sat in the far corner in one of the booths the wolf pack had commandeered as there own for the night. Seth, Embry, Colin, Kai and Trey were sat with me. the music started and we all looked up there was a woman and three other men on the stage, she was beautiful the rest of the single wolves at the table started talking about how hot she was but this girl was way more than hot, even Embry a married wolf let out a little whistle in appreciation of her curves, Kai and Trey instantly turned to each other and started bickering over who got to put the moves on her first, Collin leant across the table insisting it was his turn and Seth just laughed telling the other pups if they didn't cool it he was gonna walk over there and look her in the eye before they even noticed he was gone. I wasn't listening to their arguing anymore she'd opened her mouth and was singing, her voice has quite husky like she smoked forty a day and sexy as hell.

She reached behind her and yanked her hair tie out shaking her mane of messy curls free, too much saliva gathered in my mouth. Lyrics I didn't recognise tumbled out of her fire engine red lips, I didn't recognise the song and I was pretty into music maybe she was singing her own song a lot of the bands that had performed today had done original music as well as covers. It was pretty loud in here and the crowd was a mixture of drunken men whistling and cat calling her and teenage girls squealing and jumping up and down on the wooden floor.

The gorgeous woman on stage was singing something about being addicted to someone and keeping the sex with them fresh it isn't till the chorus comes around again that I realise why the crotch of my jeans is starting to feel tight. She sings the chorus again and I hear the words this time. _"I'm so addicted to all the things you do when you're going down on me in-between the sheets" _she sings completely owning the stage and captivating the audience, instantly my head gets carried away with it's self and all I can picture is my head in-between her thighs surrounded by soft white sheets. Jesus what is wrong with me I don't even know this girl, I shake the thought away and try and concentrate on what she's singing now. _"Or the sound you make with every breath you take it's not like anything when you're loving me"_

Collin, Kai and Trey are getting up from the table and hurrying over to the front of the crowd trying to push their way in front of each other desperate to look her in the eye and bag a hot imprint, I glance at Seth and Embry they haven't made any effort to move, I guess Embry's already in love and Seth is just too laid back to really care, he's a firm believer that he'll imprint when he's supposed to, and as for Embry if his wife Leah ever found out he'd even looked at another woman she'd probably neuter him, Auntie Lee was one fierce lady you didn't mess with her.

I called Leah my auntie although it had never occurred to me to call Seth uncle Seth our relationship was just never like that even when I was a kid, Auntie lee and I were close since I was young though. Leah and Seth were vaguely related to my dad somehow but Seth and I were like friends not uncle and nephew.

My father was Jacob Black and the alpha of my pack so I was half werewolf half hybrid although other than running a little cooler than the rest of the wolves and being twice as fast as any of them I didn't have any vampire traits from my mother Ness Cullen. Unlike my little sister Willow who was more hybrid than wolf in her she was so psychic she had to meditate for hours a day to keep her power under control if she didn't she got terrible headaches that she gave to everyone in a ten mile radius and if she got upset of angry the weather got bad and the ground shook like crazy any one who got near her when she was like that just passed out before they could even touch her she had so much raw power sometimes I couldn't fathom it. My poor sister couldn't spend a lot of time in public because of this but she had her imprint Brady who barley left her side and as long as he was there she was never unhappy. Her only wolf traits were her hot skin, Great grandpa Carlisle thought that female wolf/hybrid babies like Willow were closer to hybrids and males like me took on more of the wolf genes. It was a sound theory but considering we were probably the only two in existence there was no way to prove it.

I can't help myself I get up and follow after my pack brothers. The band and the beautiful girl whose name I wish I knew had moved onto there second song she was doing the greatest cover of American Woman by Lenny Kravitz I'd ever heard and I was biased I actually really liked the guy. I catch up with the others halfway to the front and get a good look at her dark brown almost black curly hair with some platinum blonde curls in there too. Chocolate brown eyes and black lashes, full pouty little red lips. Perfect hourglass figure she was the kind of woman that had ample breasts a small frame and deliciously curvy hips you know a real woman not some twiglet you see on billboards and in glossy girly magazines. she was wearing skin tight leather trousers, high heeled ankle boots and a sweat soaked AC/DC t shirt that was at least three sizes too big for her and hung off of one of her shoulders.

By this time she's into the third song of her set, the beat is steady but fast, she swings and circles her hips bending and suspending suggestively sticking her perfectly rounded little ass out, she locks eyes with me in the crowd and winks at me, I only just register that she even winked at me because in the same second my whole world stops, everything disappears nobody has to tell me I already know what just happened, I just imprinted on the sexy rock goddess on the stage. I guess the other guys were too distracted by the music and the crowd to notice what had just happened. Her voice brought me back down to earth and back to reality, I focused my attention back on her and realised she was looking at me and only me, she was singing at me... no to me. _"Don't hold back you know I want it bad Whoa oh oh I can't say no I lose control because of you I'm like an animal" _she sings to me, her eyes sparkling and a sexy smirk on those red lips.

Her band finished off with a cover of Anyway you want it by Journey after an original song about not trusting angels the main lyric that stuck with me from that song went _Angel you mean nothing to me, Halo you mean nothing to me_, I wondered if she'd written these songs herself if she had she was good, her band was really good and she was amazing, when they were finished they got the loudest response from the crowd louder than any of the other performers had gotten put it that way. She thanked us and bowed.

"Thanks everybody give it up for Ethan on drums!" she shouted and the crowd did exactly what she commanded, the drummer rose his sticks in the air revelling in the applause "Dane on rhythm!" she cheered, the crowd whooped and every girl in the audience swooned and sighed. "On Bass, Dax!" the crowd let them have it again and I waited with baited breath for her to introduce herself "you have been incredible we have been 'third rib and up' Goodnight La Push!" She yelled and the crowd exploded in a round of cheers and she and the rest of the band climbed off the back off the makeshift stage that's where I lost her in the darkness and hordes of people.

I tried to pick out her scent from the cacophony that was currently assaulting my nose; I cursed myself for getting slightly drunk and lessening my senses. I finally caught the scent of fresh oranges and ginger I knew in a heartbeat that it was my imprint, I hated that I still didn't even know her name I had to find her I had to talk to her I just had to. I tracked her through the still crowded bar to the parking lot at the back of the bar where her scent just stopped and disappeared. I knew it was because she'd got into a car I was devastated, I was heart broken what if I never saw my imprint again. I heard footsteps and realised Seth was stood behind me. "Hey Duck what wrong" Seth asks offering me a small smile, Everybody called me duck, it was a nickname for Riddoc only my parents called me that everyone else even my sister and all my other relatives called me Duck.

It started when I was just a kid and I guess it just stuck. I didn't particularly like my nickname but I'd had it for years now there wasn't really much I could do about it.

"I imprinted" I whispered still staring at the tarmac.

"That's great, so why do you look like some trapped your tail in a door?" he laughs then his smile fades when he sees I'm not laughing. "Riddoc?"

"I lost her; she got in a car and..." I trail off unable to form any more words.

"Well I'll help you find her, come and phase and show me her scent so we can track her together" he says and pats me on my shoulder "Duck come on we'll find her" he reassures me but I know it's hopeless I can feel the imprint and I can feel how far away she is. Seth wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me in the direction of the tree line. Embry, Colin and Trey catch up with us and as soon as I phase I feel Auntie Lee and my Dad already phased.

_Jake: Riddoc?_

I hear Dad's concerned voice in my head, I know my pain and worry is radiating off of me for the whole pack to feel but I can't stop it no matter how hard I try to push it down.

_Leah: Oh my god Duck you imprinted! _

Auntie Lee gushes then quickly gets a hold of herself remembering half the pack is phased and listening to this conversation and turns back into the tough bitch we all love

_Leah:_ _I heard that! _

I can feel her smirking.

_Jake: Don't worry Riddoc, imprinting is fate you'll meet her again because she's meant for you._

_Embry: Yeah_ _that's how it works. _

The pack spends the next hour or so trying to convince me to be patient but when nobody can turn anything up on her and with no idea where she is or even what her name is I'm not exactly filled with hope. I guess Dad picked up on this and left Leah in charge and took me home, the second I stepped in the door my Mom appeared out of nowhere and enveloped me in a big hug.

"It'll be ok baby you'll find her, Willow showed me everything she's stunning and so talented" Mom cried, she's so emotional sometimes, Dad prized her off of me and gave me an apologetic smile. Mom can barley handle watching the six o'clock news without tearing up.

Of course Willow had seen everything and told mom, her abilities were a mixture of Grandpa Edward's and his sister Alice's along with the offensive psychic abilities she possessed like the weather and element control. I mumbled to my Dad that I was going to my room and he nodded while Mom calmed down her face buried in his chest. I collapsed face first onto my bed and didn't move for the next twenty four hours


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Six weeks later I'm patrolling on the Canadian border with Kai when I feel my best friend Shila phase. It's been six torturous weeks since I imprinted and about that many seconds since I thought about her. I found out her name and that she lives in LA but that's all I could learn about her.

Her name was Adrian Fox, four days after the imprint and the festival had packed up and left town Shila came bursting into my bedroom followed by his twin brother Miles and my little sister Willow. I looked up from the book I was pretending to read and Shila Uley shoved his laptop in front of my face. I was about to growl at him and complain then something on the screen caught my eye. I turned my attention to Shila's laptop and saw my angel looking right back at me. She looked a little younger than when I'd imprinted on her by maybe a year or two. T

he picture was of her and the guys she'd performed on stage with. Her hair was straight instead of curly and she a black tank top and a red tartan miniskirt on, high heeled boots and a leather jacket, she looked hot but young. In fine print below the photograph it read from left to right the names of the band like she'd introduced on stage that night but this time her name was among them, now not only did I have a picture of her but I knew her name, Shila was the best friend ever I really owed him for that. There was also a date turned out the photograph had been published five years ago, 'Third rib and up' had been a really promising alternative rock band at the time and were on the verge of signing a record deal it didn't say how but somehow everything went belly up for them and the band broke up. I'd been unable to turn anything more up about the band or Adrian and a name alone wasn't much to go off in a city as big as LA.

I tried to keep positive that it was fate, destiny wanted us together so it would happen eventually we would meet again one day, I just hoped it was soon. Whenever it happened I was never gonna let Adrian out of my sight ever again, I'd win her heart, tell her my secret then put a ring on her finger that was the plan at least, but this was all on the assumption that I ever find her. I snapped my attention to Shila wondering what he'd just tuned in for he didn't have patrol today.

_Shila:_ _Duck dude you're gonna want to see this_.

_Me: See what?_

I wondered what he could be talking about but couldn't think of anything, I could feel in my head there was something he shouldn't be mentioning or at least was trying his dammed best not to show me.

_Me: What are you hiding Shila?_

_Shila: Nothing just come meet us on the pier Miles is gonna come take over your patrol _

_Me: Why would he do that?_

_Shila: Because you've been completely miserable since you imprinted and this might actually cheer you up so come on_

_Kai: What are you waiting for Duck? Go if I had a free pass out of patrol I would not be questioning it get out of here_

I feel Kai laughing, he had a point

_Me: Ok I'll see you at the pier_

_Shila: Cool I'm with your Dad and Seth at a new surf and turf bar that just opened meet us there_

Then he phased out I stayed in wolf form and ran towards First beech I hit the edge of the trees in a matter of seconds. I shifted back into human form and untied the black jeans from the cord around my ankle. I slipped them on and started to jog across the beech it was the height of summer and it hadn't rained for almost four days that had to be some kind of record. The beech was full and busy I guess all the high school kids were spending their summer break here. I reached the pier and spotted the new bar Shila had been talking about, the place had been under renovation for weeks now and had just opened yesterday. This had better be good I was gonna kick his ass if he'd called me off patrol just for a really good steak.

For the last six weeks since I lost my imprint I'd thrown myself into work be it patrolling or working for my Dad at the garage as long as I kept myself busy I could keep my thoughts off of her. I pushed through the doors of the bar and I instantly felt better my heart felt lighter and I felt marginally happy. Maybe this was what I needed just spend some time with my pack I spotted, Dad, Seth and Shila at a table in the middle of the room, Seth looked up and waved me over I took the empty seat in between Shila and my Dad. "So what's this all about?" I asked impatiently.

"You'll see" Dad told me. He and Seth exchanged a knowing glance I huffed and turned to Shila.

"You're my best friend you have to tell me what's going on" I tell him.

"What?" he laughed.

"Don't make me go alpha on you" I threatened and he laughed again

"Duck you know that doesn't work in front of Jake his alphaness over rides yours" he says and I sigh he's right.

"Jake? Seth?" a cheery female voice called from behind me I froze mid thought, I knew that voice it belonged to my imprint. My heart was racing but I was too afraid to turn around then the smell of oranges and ginger hit my nose and I saw her walk over to our table out of the corner of my eye she stood in between Dad and Seth with a hand on each of their shoulders. My breath caught and I couldn't stop myself from staring at her. "You two are back already didn't you stuff your faces enough last night?" she jokes and they laugh. Last night! They met my imprint last night and waited till now to tell me I almost phased at the table in pure rage. Adrian looked up at me and I audibly gasped at her eye contact and immediately stopped shaking. She smiled at me before asking "Who are your friends?" Seth jumped in to answer her.

"This is Shila Uley and Duck Black" he says pointing to each of us in turn. I growled at him for introducing me with my stupid nickname.

"It's Riddoc" I spit out. I don't mean to talk in front of her with so much venom I'm just pissed at Seth, she's the last person in the world I want calling me Duck.

"Black huh? So what are you two brothers?" she asks me and Dad. I'm about to nod and tell her yes we usually say Dad and I are brothers and Mom and Willow are sisters considering none of us looks a day over eighteen, it was just easier that way.

"Actually Riddoc's my son" Dad Says. She frowns and looks from me to him.

"How's that you look the same age" Adrian says

"Ness and I were sixteen when we had him" he tells her that's strictly a lie but it sounds better than the truth although my Mom was technically eight years old when she fell pregnant with me she was physically seventeen but my Dad was twenty four. He imprinted on her the day she was born and had to wait for her to grow up before they became a couple, he was a big brother to her first then when she got a bit older he was her best friend and then they started dating when she was seventeen. "Wow and you're how old eighteen?" she guesses, I smile and shake my head.

"Twenty one" I say and her mouth falls open a little bit she turns to my Dad still looking shocked.

"Jake you and I are gonna share skincare regimes later" she grins and everyone cracks off laughing except me I'm still staring at my imprint.

"Adrian!" one of the waitresses calls to her and rushes over "There's a phone call for you" so Adrian works here that's great news.

"Ok thanks Misty get these boys four steaks and the half lobster with everything ok? On the house" she tells the waitress, I only just realise that Seth is staring intently at Misty, Shila grins at me and I realise he's just imprinted on her.

"You don't have to do that" my Dad says.

"Are you kidding the amount you two and Embry packed away last night you paid my bills for month, it's on me I insist, it was nice meeting you both" Adrian says to me and Shila and turns to leave "Hey Misty who's on the phone?" she asks snapping her out of her eye lock with Seth.

"Oh erm... I think it was your Dad" Misty says. I notice Adrian's body tense up and her face fill with worry.

"My Dad?" she whispers and Misty nods before Adrian practically runs off to the phone. Misty takes our drinks order then wonders off to get our food and Dad and Shila start congratulating Seth on his imprint, I have to admit Misty is really pretty she's just got nothing on Adrian.

"What the hell? You guys met Adrian last night why didn't you tell me?" I ask

"We didn't realise who she was at first when we realised why she looked familiar we were gonna tell you but by the time I got home you were already sleeping off your patrol" Dad tells me squeezing my shoulder.

"Yeah plus we kind of wanted to surprise you, you've been so unhappy lately" Seth tells me.

"I think you could have woken me up for that Dad" I huff and fold my arms across my chest.

"Relax Duck, the bar would have been closed by then anyway so you wouldn't have been able to see her or anything" Seth says

"You got an imprint like three seconds ago Seth when you're away from her for the first time tell me that it doesn't hurt like hell" I snap

"Riddoc?" my Dad Cautions me and I sigh.

"I'm going to the bathroom" I say and push myself back from the table.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

I round the corner to where the restrooms are and hear my beauty's voice, she sounds sad and all I want is to run to her and comfort her but I can't, she wouldn't understand, she doesn't know me yet. "Daddy please tell me you didn't extend your tour again?" she begs into the phone. I stand just around the corner from her feeling bad for listening but unable to stop myself "You were supposed to be here a week ago you promised you'd be home for my birthday and you missed it" she sighs "It was fine, yes I got very drunk, yes I took lots of pictures. Daddy that's not point I know I'm acting like a brat but I just want you home, what was that? no Daddy don't go!" she cries I prick my ears up trying to pick up the other end of the phone call but the lines so crappy I can only just make out a muffled male voice. "I love you please be careful, Dad? Dad? Daddy?" I hear her hang up the phone and start to cry, I can't hold myself back anymore I have to go to her. I walk over and see her crying into her hands with her back against the wall.

"Adrian?" I say softly as I get close to her, her head pops up and her red teary eyes break my heart. "What's wrong?" I ask. She doesn't say anything she just tries to catch her breath. I pull her against my chest and hug her, she gasps and stiffens for a second but she doesn't protest or try to get away infact she leans her head against my shoulder. I shush her and rock her gently until her breathing starts to sound normal. "You ok?" I whisper against her hair and I feel her nod.

"Yeah I'm sorry" she says

"You have nothing to apologise for" I tell her.

"Why are you being nice to me? You don't even know me?" she murmurs her hands clenched in fists against my chest.

"Maybe I'd like to" I whisper and she suddenly starts laughing at first I'm worried she's laughing at me "what's so funny?" I ask.

"I was just thinking you and your friends are lucky I don't enforce a no shoes, no shirt, no service policy" she giggles and it's a beautiful sound. I laugh too and look down at my half naked form.

"Yeah pretty lucky huh?" I say. "You wanna take a walk?" I ask her praying she'll say yes. She looks up at me her eyes wide.

"Ok" she breathes and I don't even try to stop the huge smile that covers my face.

Five minuets later we're walking down the beech side by side, when I woke up this morning I never thought for a second I'd be spending the afternoon walking in the surf with my imprint. "So do you want to talk about it? Or do you want me to just shut up?" I ask and she smiles at me.

"You mean the phone call?" she asks and I nod, she sighs and shrugs her shoulders "It's just my Dad he's a Captain in the military he has been since I was kid every time the end of his service comes up he promises me he's coming home and we can be a family again then he goes and extends his tour another four years because his boys have and he doesn't want to leave them" she says.

"I'm sorry" I tell her and she smiles

"It's alright I'll stop being surprised one day, it won't be so bad then" she huffs and shakes her head "So why do people call you Duck? I get the feeling you don't like that name?"

"I hate it" I tell her and she laughs "when I was a kid like just learning to talk my Dad would split my name into two syllables trying to teach me how to say it but it just kept coming out Duck, anyway pretty soon the whole family was calling me Duck" I say rolling my eyes and she laughs

"But you prefer Riddoc?" she asks and I practically fall over at the way she says my name all I can do is nod. "Then I'll call you Riddoc. Can I tell you a secret Riddoc?" she asks stopping and standing close to me.

"Sure" I shrug trying not to show how her proximity is affecting me.

"I remember you from the festival in the crowd at the bar, do you remember me?" she asks.

"Definitely, I don't think I could forget" I grin and she smiles back.

"What did you think?" she asks

"Of... of what of the band?" I ask and she laughs

"Yeah what else?"

"You guys were great"

"I'm glad you liked it" she says then carries on walking I look up and realise we've walked the entire length of the beech and she's turned around heading back to the pier. My heart sinks realising my time with her is almost up.

"Adrian? My family is having a bonfire on the beach tomorrow night would you like to come, it's just gonna be family and friends and I can tell the guys already like you" I say hopeful

"On this beach?" she asks and I nod "Erm I don't know I'll be working at the bar so..."

"Well we don't usually get started till about ten so you could just come by whenever I'd really like it if you were there" I say and she smiles.

"Ok I'll see if I can drop by after closing" she agrees and I grin in triumph.

We walk back towards the pier quite slowly just talking, I learn about her likes and dislikes she tells me about her childhood, how her mom left when she was six and how her dad was always away with the army, she moved around a lot being passed between family members and close friends until she got her own place when she was eighteen.

I ask her about 'Third rib and up' and she tells me how she met the rest of the band and how they were so close to making something of themselves when she was sixteen but she tells me like a lot of bands it just wasn't meant to be the band broke up due to different interests, failed relationships, and the band killer that is drug abuse. The drummer got married and had a kid dropping out of the band to spend more time with his daughter; the rhythm guitarist got into the drug scene and got kicked out of the band and ended up in rehab. I have to clench my fists when she tells me she used to date her bassist and that they broke up breaking the last straw on the proverbial camel's back, I calm down a little when she later mentions he's now happily married too.

It turns out her band isn't making music at all anymore they only play together every now and again for old times sake and they only performed at the festival six weeks ago as a favour to the guy running it, one of the bands had dropped out last minuet and he'd asked Adrian and her band to fill in. She asks me about my family and I tell her about my sister, I tell her of course Mom is the same age as Dad and go with the story Dad already set up for me in the surf and turf bar. I tell her that I lived here my whole life and went to college in Seattle to study engineering, she seems pretty impressed.

I don't want to leave her but we're back at the bar which I now realise is called the Surf Shack, the sign on the front has brown lettering on the front of a huge yellow and orange surfboard with a big bite out of it and inside business looks booming but I can't see any of the other wolves looks like they finished and left. "You didn't get to eat" she says and I turn back to her and smile.

"That's ok I'd rather hang out with you than Seth and Shila I wasn't that hungry anyway" I lie, I'm starving but I don't want her to feel bad, the second those words leave my mouth my stomach let's out a loud grumble and drops me in it, she laughs and looks down at my stomach, for a second I think she might be biting her lip.

"Liar" she laughs and I awkwardly rub the back of my neck. "Come on let's get you something" she tilts her head towards the bar and pulls me inside by the hand but I stop in the doorway.

"Only if you eat with me" I grin she laughs and rolls her eyes.

"Why do you have a phobia of eating alone?" she smirks and I laugh

"No, I just want to spend more time with you" I admit with a shrug, she smiles at me and I smile right back.

"Ok I guess I am pretty hungry too" she nods and I smile even wider.

We sit at the bar and she orders for us when I ask her what's good here, she chooses the Brie and Bacon burger with Crab cakes and it's delicious, we talk for hours until she insists I have to leave so she can get back to work its lucky she's the owner I wouldn't want her in trouble for spending time with me.

When I get home my Mom is practically dancing about the house she's so happy for me she pulls me into a hug and kisses both cheeks "Jake told me you finally found Adrian that's so great honey" she coos in her sing song voice

"Yeah it is thanks Mom" I smile as she dances over to the oven and pulls out a tray of fresh cookies, my Mom loves to bake, she owns a cupcake shop in Forks. I shake my head at her antics and head up to my room, I'm exhausted.

Willow meets me at the top of the stairs with a big smile on her face. "Hey Duck did you have a good time with your imprint today?" she asks me.

"Yeah it was awesome" I admit.

"She's really cool I can't wait to meet her tomorrow night at the bonfire" Willow sings happily.

"That's if she shows" I tell her "and if she is there you'll have to be careful with her you know she's human"

"I know I know, I will be fine, if Brady's with me there will be no episodes I promise"

"Good, you really think she'll come?" I ask

"I've seen it" she smiles then skips off down the stairs. Willow can only see her own future so I guess she saw herself meeting Adrian tomorrow night. I flop down on my bed and smile excited at the prospect of spending more time with the love of my life.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

I wake up too early and the day passes too slowly, by the time we start heading to first beech I'm beyond excited I even dressed up for the occasion. I pulled on my best jeans or what Mom tells me are my good butt Jeans and a t-shirt that actually belongs to me for once usually me and the rest of the pack end up sharing clothes out of ease most of the time but the navy blue t-shirt I was currently wearing was mine the tag was still in it probably put in my closet by Aunt Alice although Willow was just as bad so it could have easily been her. It was kind of tight and my arms stretched the sleeves within an inch of their lives and it made me feel a little self conscious but Mom and Willow said I looked handsome so I guess I must look ok, I never really had much call for shoes and I'd be barefoot on the beech so I just pulled on my old converse for driving in.

Mom and Dad had already gone down to the beach to meet Leah and Embry. They'd been married for six years even though they weren't imprinted on each other they had fallen completely in love, I often wondered if they ever feared they would imprint on other people, just because they were husband and wife didn't mean the danger wasn't there. But they love each other and I guess you just couldn't help who you loved sometimes, after all all the imprint was is a push in the right direction, if you already fell in love with your imprint what was the point of imprinting on them. I hoped that was the case for Leah and Embry they both deserved to be happy.

I found Brady and my baby sister making out on the kitchen island and had to avert my eyes, it didn't bother me that they were in love I just didn't want to see his tongue down her throat. He made her happy that's all I cared about and if he ever hurt her thanks to wolf telepathy Dad and I would know all about it, unfortunately we both also got to see all of their make out sessions and steamy almost taking of Willow's virginity sessions too. Poor Brady it had to be tough dating the Alpha's baby girl. "My god could you not we prepare food on there" I tell them, Brady huffs and Willow giggles.

"Sorry Duck" she says and I resist the urge to growl at the name.

"You two about ready?" I asked

"Yep Collin called and asked if we can pick him up on the way?" Brady says and I nod.

"Sure sure" I say.

When we got to the beach Auntie Lee was the first one to find me she jogged over to the four of us as we made our way to the beach and hugged me. "Tell me everything" she says and I laugh.

"What are you talking about Lee?" I ask as Collin, Brady and Willow head down to the rest of the pack.

"This girl of yours Seth and Embry said she owns a restaurant on the pier?" she prompts and I grin at the mention of my imprint. It worries me that I'm falling completely in love with her so soon but I guess that's the imprint, intensifying everything I'm already starting to feel. I nod and tell Leah about my walk on the beach with Adrian yesterday then the meal I ate with her at the surf shack.

By the time I'm done Dad and Embry are talking about how good the food is at Adrian's bar while Seth tries to fire up the grill, my Mom ends up going over and doing it for him, he'd been all fingers and thumbs since he imprinted yesterday according to Leah. After a couple of hours I see Shila jump up across the bonfire and run over to someone, I look over, it's Adrian he gives her a bear hug that lifts her off of her feet and she looks a little uncomfortable so I head over to help her out. I tap him on the shoulder and pull him back a step.

"Excuse him he likes to hug" I joke and she laughs out of nowhere Shila grabs me in a head lock.

"No need for jealousy I've got plenty of love to go around" he says and Adrian laughs harder I scramble away from Shila then shove him back towards where the pack is sitting.

"Hi" I say feeling a little nervous, she smiles at me and I choke on thin air at how beautiful she is. She's wearing a long sleeveless denim shirt that covers her bottom like a dress and black leggings she looked amazing. Her hair was curly and wild like the night I imprinted on her I loved her hair like this. "How was work?" I ask

"Good busy, which is good" she smiles

"Come on I want to introduce you to my little sister" I tell her I hold out my hand to her with out really thinking it through first but she doesn't even hesitate she just smiles at me and reaches out and takes it. It surprises me but I try not to show how deliriously happy I am at her touch.

I lead her across the fire fully aware of the fact that my parents are watching us and smiling to each other, I take her over to where Brady and Willow are sat. "This is my sister Willow and her... boyfriend Brady" I say. Willow leaps up and hugs Adrian I can tell by my sister's face she wants to read off of Adrian but I give her stern look that tells not to even think about it, she pouts at me but I know she hasn't used her abilities.

"It's so good to meet you I feel like we're friends already" Willow gushes releasing her.

"You do?"Adrian frowns.

"Yeah Duck couldn't shut up about you when he got home yesterday" Willow says and I roll my eyes

"That's great Willow thanks for that" I grumble but Adrian just laughs it off.

"What it's true" Willow says with a shrug, I feel my cheeks heat up a little then Adrian catches my eye she's smiling at me I can't help but grin back. Willow and Adrian get talking about girl stuff like Willow's unusual hair colour and Adrian's tattoos; she has a compass tattooed on her wrist, a bird on her hip, some text on her ribs and a paw print on her foot. That's my favourite one the paw on her foot I noticed it yesterday when she was barefoot in the sand. Brady comes and stands next to me while our imprints laugh and talk.

"Adrian seems really great" Brady says and I nod.

"Yeah she is" I agree

"And Willow definitely likes her. Duck I wanted to ask your opinion on something you can keep you thoughts to yourself right?" he asks and I turn to look at him.

"As much as anyone else why?" I ask

"What do you think Jake would say if I... well if I asked him for Willow's hand?" he cringes waiting for my answer

"Brady she's seventeen I think my Dad would bust a vein if you asked him that right now" I tell him

"I wasn't thinking now I was thinking of asking her when she graduates do you think Jake and Ness would be ok with that?" he asks

"Maybe I reckon either way he'll tear you a new one so what have you got to loose" I shrug

"Thanks Duck that's real comforting"

"Just telling it like it is" I say.

Later that night Adrian finds me laid against the sand banks she walks over boots in hand and lies down next to me. "I really like Willow she's great, and Leah what a fireball, poor Embry must have his work cut out for him in the bedroom" she laughs and I cringe.

"Oh god that's my aunt you're talking about" I say

"As if your not used to these kind of comments, Leah's legs go on for days, Willow's painfully beautiful and your Mom, holy crap she's a babe what is she like a former swimwear model or something? I mean what do they put something in the water around here?" she jokes and I laugh.

"I'm glad you like everyone, Willow adores you already I can tell" I say and she smiles "She doesn't have many friends especially female ones" I say

"I can't imagine why she's great" she shrugs

"It's ok you can say it I know how weird my sister is, people tend to shy away from her because she's different she only really has me and the other guys" I say

"Well that's why I like her because she's different; she's fun and cute as a button. You're a good brother aren't you?" she says

"Am I?"

"Yes, very protective. That's a good thing" she smiles

"Adrian?" I ask

"Yeah?"

"Are you single?" I ask and she giggles a little bit

"I am"

"Oh ok" I say then fall silent just looking up at the stars I feel her glance at me and I try not to smirk. "Adrian?" I ask again.

"Yes?"

"Do you like Italian food?" I ask

"I do but it's not my favourite" she shrugs grinning

"Oh? What's your favourite?" I ask grinning like an idiot.

"Chinese" she states, perfect I love Chinese food too.

"I know a really good Chinese place in Port Angeles"

"Oh really?" she asks and I nod, she smirks "I'll have to check it out one day"

"Yeah you should" I agree "Adrian?" I ask for the third time. She sighs and props herself up on her elbows to look at me.

"Riddoc?" she huffs obviously getting impatient "It's getting late why don't you just ask me out on a date already walk me to my car and kiss me goodnight?" she says, I stare her blankly the only word I just heard was 'kiss'

"Does it have to be in that order?" I ask and she laughs

"Not necessarily" she tells me then I pull her down against me and kiss her.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

The kiss is soft and gentle and her lips fit perfectly against mine. It's not too passionate and I hold back from putting too much into it I don't want her to think I'm only after one thing. So I fought to keep it sweet and chaste no biting no tongue no matter how desperately I wanted to bite down on that full bottom lip of hers, and god I wanted to taste her more than this but I wouldn't it was too soon it would be too fast. I pulled away and she sighed. Adrian smiled up at me "Would you like to go on date Friday?" I asked and she grinned.

"Yeah, I think I would" she says. I kissed her again then walked her to her car, she drove a beaten up white hilux I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the piece of crap she was driving. "What?" she asked taking in my horror.

"This hunk actually starts?" I asked in disbelief

"Yeah she runs like a champ, what's your problem with my car?" she demands to know.

"It's not safe, it looks like a mild breeze might tear it down" I say and she rolls her eyes.

"Riddoc this truck is the indestructible truck ok, enough of the hate" she laughs and I try and play it off with a smile although on the inside I'm terrified of her getting in that death trap.

"I'm glad you came tonight" I tell her and she smiles

"Me too" she smiles then stands on her tiptoes to kiss me again, I slide my hands around her waist and we end up with her back pressed against her car. She gives me her number and directions to her apartment. I'm on such a high from her kisses that I practically float back down to the beach.

By the time Friday comes around I'm piss in my pants nervous, I'm picking Adrian up for our date in an hour and I don't know what to do with myself I can't calm down, I can't sit still. The plan was to take her to dinner at a Chinese restaurant now I knew it was her favourite food. Then I planned to take her to the beach for a walk after our first walk there and then our first kiss there it seemed as if it was an important place for us. Mom kept looking at me smirking and rolling her eyes at me silly behaviour.

I left in good time I didn't want to be late but I also didn't want to look too eager, as I was leaving the house my Mom put a bouquet of wildflowers from my Great grandma Esme's flower garden and a brown paper bag full of cherry chocolate brownies in my hands. "Mom?" I complain but she shushes me

"Hush you are not showing up to pick this girl up without flowers and the brownies are from me and Willow" she reasons and I sigh I'm already nervous enough without bearing gifts as well. I pull up outside Adrian's apartment building with a couple of minuets to spare but decide to go up and ring the door bell anyway. The building is white and modest. According to the numbers on the front door there's three apartments inside one on each floor, Adrian lives at number three so she must live on the third floor, I press the number three and the intercom buzzes and crackles.

"Who is it?" my angel's sweet voice rings out.

"It's Riddoc" I say

"Oh hey come on up" she says the door buzzes loudly and I hear the magnet detach I push against it and let myself in, I knock on door number three and my eyes almost pop right out when she opens the door in a short silk dressing gown. "I'm sorry I promise I'm almost ready" she says cringing a little bit as if she expects to be in trouble, I smile at her and shake my head.

"Don't worry it's fine, oh these are for you" I say then hand her the flowers and the bag, my heart swells when I see her light up.

"Oh my god Riddoc thank you, nobodies ever brought me flowers before" she smiles. I'll have to thank my mom for that one later. Adrian leans up and hugs me kissing my cheek. "Come on in I'll get you something to drink" she says. I follow her through the house and she leads me into the kitchen she sets the flowers in the sink and the bag on the counter then opens the fridge and hands me a bottle of cola. I thank her then she roots around in the cupboard for a vase and I take a seat on one of the stools around the island. She fills the vase with water and arranges the flowers in it. "Thank you they're so pretty, what are they?" she asks and I grimace.

"Erm... ok you got me I have no idea, I know nothing about flowers, or plants or even trees for that matter" I admit and she laughs

"Don't you live in the middle of the forest?" she asks and I nod.

"Yep"

"Ok so what's in the bag?"

"Brownies from my Mom and Willow"

"Aww that's so sweet" she says and opens the bag she pokes her head in and sniffs the brownies, she closes her eyes and sighs. "This is what regular women must feel like when they sniff a babies head" she murmurs and I laugh.

"Yeah I don't get that either babies smell weird" I laugh

"I know I mean they're cute and everything but they smell like shortbread and chuke" she grimaces at the thought and I smile at her. She takes another look in the bag "Holy crap there's a lot in here are you trying to fatten me up Mr. Wolf?" she giggles and I choke on the mouthful of cola I'm currently swallowing I manage to swallow it without spraying it everywhere and recover. Did she really just call me what I think she did? I need to relax there's no way she knows my secret, how could she? She walks over and puts her hand on my shoulder. "Are you ok?" she asks and all I'm able to do is nod "Are you sure?" she asks looking concerned.

"Yeah I'm good" I say trying to shake my errant thoughts off.

"Ok well I'll go finish getting dressed" she tells me then leaves the kitchen "Make yourself at home!" she calls from the hall. After a couple of minuets I get up and wonder about the place the kitchen is clean and neat, the living area attached to it is black and white, white carpets and walls, two black leather sofa's facing each other and a huge TV mounted above the fire place.

The walls are littered with black and white photographs, lots of her and an older man I assume is her dad, lots of her and a little girl, some of her and a man maybe a little older than her and then some of all four of them together, I wonder who he is and why he's got his hands on my imprint. Then there's photo's of Adrian and her band. "That one was taken in England" Adrian's voice calls from behind me, shit I was so deep in thought I didn't even hear her come in this girl's like a ninja, or a cat but cat's are natures ninja's, man I hate cats "We had a really big fan base over there, we did a festival in Devon and it rained the whole time there was mud everywhere, hence the photograph" she laughs as I turn to look at her. My mouth falls open and the words I was going to say die on my lips instead I gulp and say:

"Holy shit" She's wearing a skin tight knee length red skirt and a little strapless grey top that looks like lingerie more than actual clothing with the same colour grey high heeled half shoe half boot things.

Adrian Laughs, "Oh good that's the reaction I was hoping for" she teases.

"No I mean you look great, like really great. You're so beautiful" I say before I can stop myself, she blushes and her pink cheeks are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

"Thank you" she whispers

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to embarrass you" I say looking at my feet, I hear her walk over to me and she tilts my head up with her hands so I'm looking at her

"You didn't, you look really good too by the way this is a great colour on you" she says stroking her hands across my chest over the dark red shirt I'm wearing, making me tremble at her touch. She looks up at me through her lashes and the second her eyes lock with mine I can't help myself a second longer I have to kiss her.

I wrap my hands around her shoulders and pull her against me as we kiss, she moans a little bit as her chest slams against mine then she wraps her arms around my neck, she pushes me against the wall and runs her tongue against my bottom lip and I groan. Sometimes I really wish I could just think before I act but this is one of the occasions where I'm obviously not thinking. I grab Adrian by the hips and spin her around so I'm forcing her against the wall with my tongue in her mouth, she moans again and pulls on my hair so I figure that maybe she doesn't really mind how fast things seem to be going infact I think that maybe she likes it.

When we pull away we're both panting heavily and she giggles and blushes. "As much as I'd like to stay in and do this I'm kind of hungry" she smiles up at me.

"Me too shall we go?" I ask and she nods

"I'll get my purse" she says then walks away leaving me a little light headed.

We head out and I open the passenger side door for her she smiles at me and slips into the seat. I love my car and I'm actually quite proud of it I built it from the ground up with my dad when I was a kid. It's a silver sixty seven camero and until I met Adrian she was my favourite girl. It's about a thirty minuet drive to Port Angeles and on the way she fiddles with the radio and when she can't find a decent station she asks me what CD's I have, she looks horrified when I tell her nobody owns CD's anymore. "As a former artist that offends me" she laughs

"It's true, I have shit loads of CD's at home but I don't even own a CD player now" I say and she gasps

"Oh my god that's shocking, well at least I found this out on the first date" she jokes but for a second my face falls thinking she might be serious. But she's smiling so I smile back. I reach across the car and pull the glove box open I take my I pod out and pass it to her, she grins. "Ooh ok lets see what kind of music you listen to" she says and starts scrolling through my albums. She smiles and nods as she reads through the names. "You've got a lot of old rock on here" she comments.

"I tend to prefer it to most new music" I shrug

"I know what you mean, oh look what I found" she sings and plugs my I pod into the stereo jack and one my favourite bands starts to play out.

"Oh this is my favourite..." I start to tell her then cut myself of when I realise she's saying the same thing she laughs

"Well" she says after a minuet "I'm very impressed by your music catalogue" she grins at me and I laugh.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

We arrive at the restaurant and order we talk about music and our likes I tell her about working at the garage for my dad and how we built my car together. She tells me about her father.

"Daddy always used to say when his service was up we'd open a surf and turf restaurant together on the beach somewhere then when I did the festival in La Push I guess I just fell in love with the place." She smiles and I wait for her to continue "You know I..." she starts then stops herself and shakes her head.

"What?" I ask

"No nothing, I was going to say something but I realised how ridiculous it sounded out loud" she says laughing it off, she picks up her chopsticks and skilfully sweeps up a mushroom, I wish I was that smooth with mine.

"Come on tell me?" I ask, she shakes her head and swallows.

"No you'd laugh at me" she says

"I promise I won't, I'll only ever laugh with you" I tell her seriously and she blinks at me for a second before a smile spreads across her face.

"I know it sounds crazy but after the festival on the drive back to LA I felt physically sad and my heart just ached for something. Then once I was back home I felt so gloomy and homesick, how strange is that to miss a place that much, somewhere I'd only spent one weekend?" she frowns and shakes her head at herself.

She can feel it, the imprint it's been affecting her from that very first night she just didn't understand what it was yet. She thought it was La Push pulling her back here but it doesn't matter the imprint brought her back to me and I don't think I've ever been happier.

"It's not crazy" I tell her.

"I told Daddy about La Push and how much I loved it he told me to go a head and start setting up without him. It all just happened so fast I mean everything fell into place so easily like it was meant to be or something. And I don't even believe in fate" she laughs and my head shoots up.

"You don't?" I ask.

"I don't like the thought that I don't control my own destiny" she says and my heart sinks. If that's how she truly feels what is she gonna think when I tell her she was chosen to be my soul mate, she'll hate it she'll feel trapped, I never want that I want Adrian to choose me, I choose her imprint or no imprint. We eat in silence for a few moments before she picks up the conversation again. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure sure" I nod and she chuckles.

"I wanted to ask Willow at the bonfire but I was sort of too afraid to" she admits

"Afraid?" I repeat

"Well maybe not afraid but just nervous of what the answer might be" she says

"Ok" I say feeling a little nervous myself

"How come you and all your family and even your friends all have matching tattoos?" she asks and takes a deep breath. As for me I breathe a sigh of relief that that's all it is.

"Oh well it's just the mark of our tribe that's all, why did you think we we're all in some kind of cult or something?" I laugh and she blushes

"I'm sorry I grew up in LA it's the first place my mind jumped, I had to ask" she tells me.

"And you still agreed to go on a date with me?" I ask

"Again I grew up in LA" she jokes and we both laugh "What does it mean?" she asks

"Huh?" I say in confusion

"Your tattoo" she says

"Oh, you know that I'm Quiliette right?" I ask and she nods "What do you know about our legends?"

"Nothing" she admits a beaming smile on her face "Will you tell me? Am I allowed to know I am a... what was the word Trey called me? Oh that's right a pale face" she giggles and as much as the sound it soothing to me I'm pissed that Trey called her a pale face she's an imprint how dare he.

"Trey shouldn't have called you that, I'll deal with him in the morning" I mutter and her eyebrows rise.

"You'll deal with him what does that mean?" she asks narrowing her eyes at me but a smile still playing on her lips.

"It means I won't have that little punk getting away with hurting your feelings. Calling someone a pale face is rude it doesn't just mean someone who isn't Quiliette it means someone who doesn't know much" I tell her and she shrugs her shoulders.

"Well then he used it in the right context considering I know very little about the Quiliette's" she says and I scowl "Now stop being such a macho man and finish what you were saying"

"Some of us believe the Quiliette's are descended from wolves, we believe wolves are spiritual animals that hold power and magic. It's said Quiliette's have magic in our blood and when our enemies are close the magic awakens" I say, she watches me intently hanging on my every word.

"And? What happens when the magic awakens?" she asks and I grin.

"Certain members of the tribe have or are rumoured to have a gene that makes them strong enough to protect the people, in order to do that they become what we call the protectors. And this gene is said to give you the ability to change form, and become the mighty wolf" I say and she laughs a little before pressing her lips together

"I'm sorry, you're playing with me" she states and I shake my head no.

"I'm not"

"You're serious?"

"That's what the legends say" I shrug my shoulders

"What and supposedly this still happens? Quiliette's are out there about to change into a wolf if and when needed?" she asks

"Supposedly" I nod "Who knows, would you tell people if you could burst into a giant wolf at will?" I ask

"I guess not" she agrees.

We finish up our food and I pay then we head pack to La Push it's still early and it's a clear night so when I ask her if she wants to take a walk on the beach before I take her home, she says yes. She kicks her boots off and leaves them in the foot well of my car I decide to do the same and roll my jeans up a little bit. We've made it half the length of the beach by the time I pick up the courage to take her hand, I knot my fingers through hers she glances at me and smiles but doesn't say anything.

We talk about random things but when there's silence between us it's comfortable and nice it's not awkward and uncomfortable, it's a good silence the kind you could sit in comfortably for hours. All too soon the nights over and I'm walking her to the door.

"Did you have a good time?" I ask and she smiles brightly

"I had the best time" she says

"So you'd let me take you out again?" I ask

"I would, my choice next time..." she ponders this for a second "What are you doing Sunday?" she asks I quickly think about my patrol schedule.

"I'm working till afternoon" I say

"Then you're taking me bowling that night" she grins and I laugh

"Ok, bowling" I agree

"Bowling, I haven't been since I was kid" she says then I lean down and kiss her, she immediately wraps her arms around my neck and lets me slip my tongue inside her mouth, after a couple of minuets I get tired of leaning down and with one hand spread across her back and one arm wrapped tightly around her hips I just pick her up until our heads are at the same level. She gasps a little at the movement then continues to kiss me.

When I finally break the kiss and set her down on her feet she's grinning like an idiot and I'm pretty sure I am too. She turns and punches a code into the door unlocking it then steps over the threshold looking at me with a grin. "Well goodnight" I say and she giggles

"Riddoc I'm not holding this door open for the fresh air you know, wouldn't you like to come in?" she asks and I swallow nervously

"Are you sure?" I ask

"I have brownies and beer?" she shrugs her shoulders and I smile, as if she even needs to bribe me.

"Ok" I tell her then follow her inside.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven

Adrian walks up the stairs just ahead of me giving me a perfect view of her glorious, perfectly rounded bottom as it sways seductively at eye level four or five steps ahead on the staircase. I try to look anywhere but at her ass but it's such a dam good ass I can't help but steal occasional glances until we reach her door and I force my eyes to behave.

She unlocks the door and leads us into the living area I settle onto one of the sofas and she fetches the bag of brownies and two bottles of beer. She passes me the beer then pulls it back just as I reach for it "Oh is this ok you're driving?" she says concerned and I chuckle, I'm a shape shifter one won't even do anything to me.

"I'm a pretty big guy I think I can manage one" I assure her she laughs it off but the way her eyes trail over my body doesn't go unnoticed.

We tuck into a brownie each and get talking about how my parent's met. Nobodies ever asked me that before so I have to think on my feet, she already thinks Ness was sixteen when she had me so I work around that. I tell Adrian that my Mom and Dad met in high school and married when she found out she was pregnant with me. it's all a complete lie but what am I supposed to tell her my Dad's a shape shifter and he knew my Mom would be his wife even when she was a baby, they met because the former alpha thought her an abomination and tried to kill her but Dad protected her because he used to be in love with her mother. Jesus no way that was to messed up to get your head around even if you understood the imprint,the wolf gene and knew about vampires. Even I still got weirded out if I thought about it too hard for too long.

She needn't have worried about me driving after drinking that beer because my beer is now sat two thirds full on the coffee table practically untouched while Adrian and I make out on the sofa like a couple of teenagers. She pulls me on top of her and wraps one leg around my waist her skirt now ridden all the way up to her hips. I feel her small hands move from around my neck to my shoulders where she runs them down my arms and squeezes both of my biceps, she lets out a small appreciative 'mmm' sound in my mouth and I delve my tongue in deeper. She moves to start kissing my neck then moves her hands to start unbuttoning my shirt I let her get to the maybe the third button before I realise what she's doing and where this is going.

"Adrian wait" I breathe heavily against her lips.

"Why?" she pants her eyes still closed and she reaches up and nips at my ear lobe making me growl in frustration, I've never wanted anyone as bad as I want her, not like this, not this extreme.

"This is too fast?" I say more of question than anything. I'm scared of pushing her too far I know she can feel the imprint but she still doesn't know what it is or why she's feeling the way she is. The speed we're barrelling along at would be too fast for any normal couple and it only feels ok to her because of the imprint. I just don't want her to do anything she'll regret, I want her to be sure she wants this before we go too far to come back, she's my imprint, my life I could never hurt her like that. Next thing I know she pushes me off of her and sits up right straightening her skirt to cover herself.

"You're right I'm sorry" she mutters but I can see she's upset before I can get out an apology she stands up from the sofa. "It's kind of late and I'm tired so..." she trails obviously hinting that she wants me to leave "I had a really nice time with you, thank you for dinner" she says.

"You're welcome" I say quietly, I feel terrible and I'm not even sure where I went wrong or what I did that upset her. "Goodnight Adrian" I say. She folds her arms across her chest and refuses to make eye contact with me making it painfully obvious I shouldn't make any move to touch her or kiss her goodbye.

"Good night Riddoc" she says and then with a sigh I leave the apartment she doesn't even see me to the door.

I throw myself into the car and before I even shut the doors the heavens open. Fantastic, I just ruined the perfect date with my imprint and on top of everything it's raining. I growl angrily and punch the steering wheel being careful not to hit the horn then reluctantly start the car.

When I get home I head straight for the stairs, Mom comes out of the kitchen with a big smile on her face that drops the second she sees me. She tries to asks me what's wrong but I snap at her and tell her I don't want to talk about it. I was actually kind of rude, Dad is definitely gonna tear me a new one when he hears about it, nobody snaps at the Alpha's wife even if it's the Alpha's children.

I lock myself in my bedroom I can apologise later, I walk into the attached bathroom and start running the shower I shrug out of my shirt that was still unbuttoned the way Adrian left it, it smelt of her, her scent mixed with brownies and her arousal. I was such an idiot was that why she's closed up had I taken things too far or was that just the problem maybe she wanted more and I'd left her wanting. I was so confused I kept running over the night in my head trying to pinpoint where I had fucked up but couldn't figure it out. I stepped under the hot water and decided I would go and see her tomorrow after my patrol, I would apologise and beg her to keep our date for Sunday.

I stood under the water for a good hour before I heard a large fist banging on my bedroom door, I knew it was Dad and I knew he wasn't happy I was half tempted to try and slip put of the window but I didn't, I turned off the water got out and wrapped a towel around myself.

I opened the door and his disappointed Dad face was in place. "Riddoc what makes you think you can talk to your Mother that way?" he asks with one eyebrow cocked and I sigh.

"I'm sorry Dad I was in bad mood is she ok?" I ask and his face softens a little bit.

"She's fine, just worried about you, is there something you want to talk about?" he asks me. "Why don't you come phase and show me what happened?" he suggests but I shake my head.

"No I'm Ok, thanks Dad but I don't want to talk about it, I have patrol at six I just want to get some sleep if that's ok. I'll apologise to Mom in the morning" I tell him and he nods

"Alright, sleep well son" he says and ruffles my hair I laugh batting his hand away.

"Night Dad" I call and he leaves and shuts the door. I flop onto my bed backwards hoping that sleep will find me quickly but it's close to three by the time I finally drift off.

_Miles: Duck what's with you today?_

_Me: nothing I'm fine_

I wish Miles would get off my back but he just won't piss off, I've been running patrol with him since six this morning, my paws ached and my head banged from keeping Miles out of my head. That didn't stop him from yapping away though.

_Miles: you're not fine, I don't know what you are but definitely aren't fine bro_

_Me: look I don't want to talk about it ok so just give it a rest_

_Miles: something happen with Adrian?_

_Me: it's none of your business_

_Miles: this is obviously about Adrian you're completely blocking all of your memories and thoughts of her_.

I snarled at Miles and nipped at his flank hoping he'd just shut the fuck up, twelve o'clock couldn't roll around fast enough and the second it did I phased out so I wouldn't have to listen to him anymore.

Miles and Shila were twins but they couldn't be more different they looked pretty much identical and they were both assholes the difference was Shila was funny and lovable with it, everyone who met him loved him. Miles on the other hand was just annoying, and he was pretty much the bane of my life. Don't get me wrong I didn't hate the guy he was my pack brother he just had the annoying kid brother effect on me and we were the same age.

I arrive at the beach and make my way over to the pier it's a Saturday and I'm glad to see the surf shack is busy, I'm happy things are going well for Adrian and business is good. I let myself into the busy restaurant and I spot her serving drinks to a table of old men in fishing gear I chuckle when I see one of them checking out her ass, not that I can blame him it's a great ass. She stops and talks to another table a family of four then looks up and sees me I smile at her she doesn't smile back in fact she bites her lip and looks a little worried, she looks at her feet and mutters the word 'Shit' under her breath. I keep my face composed knowing I'm supposed to be human and a human wouldn't have heard that.

She walks over to me and I take in how gorgeous she looks today, her hair is tied back and she has no make up on but she looks beautiful anyway. "What are you doing here?" she asks and her tone stings me a little bit.

"I needed to talk to you about last night" I say

"And what you've never heard of a phone?" she sighs impatiently "Riddoc I'm working"

"I know I just... I wanted to apologise, I didn't mean to make you upset or angry" I start

"You didn't. You did nothing wrong so don't apologise" she says

"But if I didn't do anything wrong then can you explain what went wrong last night?" I ask. She huffs then checks behind her make sure nobodies listening to our conversation, next thing she grabs me by my t-shirt and pulls me back outside onto the pier.

"I'm embarrassed and humiliated ok" she hisses through her teeth "That's what happened last night"

"I'm confused" I say

"Do I have to spell it out for you? I threw myself at you and you said no. Maybe spending my adolescence in a rock band gave me too much of an ego but that's never happened to me before" she half whispers half shouts "God it was so humiliating"

"I didn't say no" I start and her eyes widen.

"Yes you did"

"No I didn't"

"Yes you did you stopped and then said 'Oh this is too fast'" she says doing a really terrible impression of me.

"Ok first of all I do not sound like that and second of all I meant that as a question" I tell her "It was our first date and things were happening so fast that I was just trying to be a gentleman about it and make sure it was what you wanted first" I say "Look I didn't want to jump only for you to regret it in the morning"

"Ok when you're asking a question you're supposed to make your voice go up at the end so people know it's a question" she says

"I'll try and work on that" I mutter and she laughs

"You're right, this is fast, that should bother me but there's no voice in my head telling me to slow down with you, I like you" she shrugs

"That's good because I like you too" I smile at her "Can I still take you out tomorrow night?"

"Only if you still want to?" she says and looks up at me with the most adorable look on her face.

"I want to" I tell her then move in to kiss her, she grabs the fabric of my t-shirt and her hands turn into fists as she pulls me against her, I thread my fingers through her hair and cup her cheeks. "Just for the record, I wanted to, you have no idea how much I wanted to" I whisper against her ear and I feel her tremble then I move my lips along her neck and jaw until I find hers again.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

I swing my arm and release the ball getting another a strike. I turn back to Adrian and she laughs and rolls her eyes. "That's it Black you and I are never going bowling again" she giggles

"Oh come on you're not doing that bad" I shrug.

"Please, you're whopping my ass so bad it's not even funny" she says. I sit down on the bench next to her and shove a handful of fries in my mouth, Adrian sips her beer then gets up to take her go, I chuckle to myself again that she's using the lightest bowling ball in the whole alley, I'm pretty sure it's one of the kids size ones as for me I'm using the largest and heaviest one. She manages to get all the pins but one but her bowling technique leaves a lot to be desired.

"You know you're supposed to bend your knees when you bowl!" I call to her she turns around and sticks her tongue out at me, I glance up at the score board I've won by an obscene amount of points. "You wanna go again?" I ask

"So you can wipe the floor with me again I don't think so anyway my wrist hurts" she says, I feel myself gasp and in a second I pull her onto my lap to inspect her wrist.

"Are you ok?" I ask and she laughs

"I'm fine" she tells me then grabs her half eaten hotdog and finishes it but makes no move to get out of my lap not that I mind. I wrap my arms around her and press my nose against her neck just breathing in her scent. "I'm still hungry are you?" she asks.

"I'm always hungry" I say and she laughs.

"Yeah I noticed, let's go find somewhere to get ice cream" she suggests

"Sounds good" I tell her and she hops off of my knee.

For beating her so badly at the bowling alley she insisted I made it up to her by winning her something in the arcades. I won her a prize on the basketball hoops, there was a choice of a huge lobster, a giant Luigi toy or a big fluffy puppy, she picked the puppy. "Thank you for my wolf" she said again and I laughed.

"I told you it's not a wolf it's a dog" I insist but she giggles and shakes her head.

"No it's not look at his pointy ears and his fluffy tail" she says and I roll my eyes

"That doesn't make it a wolf it's just a husky" I tell her

"Oh don't listen to David Attenborough over here" she tells the wolf and kisses his snout. I chuckle to myself and she elbows me scowling but smirking at me, I raise my eyebrows and grab her pinning her against my car, she giggles and kisses my cheek. "You know a lot about animals don't you?" she asks I blush and shrug.

"Well I grew up in the forest my house is in the middle of nowhere" I say rubbing the back of my neck. I see her cuddling the stuffed puppy and laugh. "Would you stop snuggling up to that dam dog you're making me jealous" I joke and she laughs,

"Would you prefer it if I snuggled up to you instead?" she asks grinning slyly, I grin back and nod. She pushed off the passenger side door to hug me, she wraps her arms around my waist and rests her head on my chest. "And he's still not a dog" she whispers.

"Fine he can be wolf if he really wants to" I say and she giggles.

"Riddoc are there real wolves on the reservation?" she asks me and I stiffen, I swallow hard before answering her.

"In the forest yeah, but don't worry they don't usually come close to the town" I tell her, in reality wolves don't ever come close to the res because they can smell a pack of much bigger wolves all over it.

"I wish I could see one" she murmurs into my chest and I hug her tighter.

"Maybe you will" I shrug

I have to cut my evening with Adrian short because I have patrol so I have her home by nine and start my run of the area, as usual there's not even a trace of a vampire anywhere near La Push. Things on the supernatural front have quietened down as of late we hadn't had even so much as a nomad passing through in months. No new wolves had phased in years in fact Kai and Trey were the last ones and that was when I was eighteen and they had been fourteen.

I knew my dad was starting to think about stepping down as Alpha and having us run less patrols. With the threat lessening some of the other older wolves were starting to think about retirement I knew Auntie Leah and Embry had been thinking about it even before me and the Uley twins phased all at the age of seventeen, Leah was still desperate to have children and even thought she could never have children of their own they were starting to think about adoption I'd seen it in their minds when they'd been phased.

Once my patrol was over I make run past Adrian's house just to check on her and I'm surprised to see she's still up, I know the bottom floor apartment is unoccupied and the middle floor is in darkness, her neighbor there is a sweet little old lady who I had to shout into her hearing aid to say hello to when I met her in the hallway with Adrian this afternoon. I trot up to the grassed yard at the rear of the building. I feel like my heart is going to fly out of my chest with joy when I hear her singing softly and the strumming of a guitar. I step closer so I can listen. _"lost and insecure you found me, you found me, lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded, why'd you have to wait, where were you, where were you, just a little late, you found me, you found me" _she sings.

God I love her voice there's something so sexy about her singing, I often fantasise about her doing so in the shower while I watch. I wish I could see her and then I think maybe I could, she wanted to see a wolf, I'm a wolf. When I'd said to her earlier that maybe she would see a wolf in La Push I had meant me but I meant in the future when I'd told her my secret not now, not the wrong way round. But who would know and I know she wouldn't be afraid of me in this form she'd be drawn to me because of the imprint she just wouldn't understand why. There's not much chance of me waking Adrian's neighbour so I not so accidentally knock a trash can over to get her attention, the guitar playing stops and I move into the middle of the yard so she can see me.

She comes up to the window and peers out I sit down with my tongue lolling out trying to look as unthreatening as possible.

"Holy Fuck" I hear her gasp, she backs away from the window and not long after I hear what sounds like rubber shoes squeaking towards me, I see Adrian come towards me down the side of the house in a pair of tiny shorts a tight spaghetti strap stretchy top and a pair of polka dot rain boots. My wolf jaw falls open at how much thigh I'm seeing, holy fuck is right.

She stay's against the building and I realise she's holding something behind her back, I get down on my belly and whine lowering my snout to the ground and she takes a step closer I pull my self forward I can hear her heart racing and I can see her desperately trying to slow it down and not show any fear towards me but like I suspected she's drawn to my wolf as much as she is to me. "So you were the one rooting around in the trash huh?" she asks and slowly takes another step closer to me. I bark playfully at her then roll onto my back like a dog would, she giggles and this time she comes right up to me I don't know if my goofing around convinced her I wouldn't hurt her of if she just forgot herself. I don't know and I don't particularly care. I roll back onto all fours and lick her hand when she reaches it out to me she giggles again and pulls it away. "How'd you get so big?" she whispers then very slowly and carefully strokes the top of my fur it feels so good I let out a low growl that sounds kind of like a purr. Her other hand joins it scratching my ears and out of the corner of my eye I see a steel baseball bat laid on the floor behind her. I guess that was what was behind her back I chuckle to myself, my girls not stupid.

When I finally get home that night there's three missed calls from Adrian one just five minuets ago so I decided to call her back. She answers after a couple of rings "Hey I hope I didn't wake you I just got a few missed calls from you" I say.

"Riddoc I saw one, he was so beautiful I wish you could have seen him" she gushes and I silently laugh to myself.

"What are talking about?" I ask already knowing the answer

"There was a wolf in my backyard" she tells me and I grin "he was huge and so gorgeous I went out to him and..."

"What!" I gasp in mock horror still grinning widely

"It's ok he was so gentle and placid, you were right about the wolves, I mean you're people are right they are spiritual and intelligent and just..." she sighs and trails off "I don't know it was just the most amazing experience"

"Are you ok?" I ask still feigning fear

"Yeah I told you he was gentle it was like he was used to humans, but I swear I've never seen a wolf that big"

"Well they must be thriving here because of the laws against hunting them" I suggest hoping she'll buy it and she does. We chat for a couple more minuets then I hear her yawn and I try to get her to go to bed. "You're tired go to sleep" I tell her

"No I am in bed just talk to me? Where are you?" she asks me

"In bed" I answer truthfully and she giggles

"I see" she says and we talk into the morning until she falls quiet and I just listen to her breathing for a while. Shit my phone bills gonna be huge, but I don't care.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Two weeks later and several dates later things between Adrian and I are amazing she's perfect and we have so much fun together. On our date last Friday I took her to dinner in Forks then we watched a movie at her place the second I get in my car to head home my phone starts ringing and when I look at the read out I see her name. I smile to myself before pressing the phone to my ear. "What's wrong you miss me already?" I joke.

"Are you still outside my house?" she asks

"Yeah. Why?" I ask

"I kind of don't want you to leave" she says

"Kind of?"

"Ok I don't want you to leave" she says emphasising the 'Don't' "I want you to stay with me tonight"

"Sleepover?" I ask and she laughs

"Something like that. It's just..." she trails off

"Just what?" I ask

"Just when you left I felt really alone and crap, will you stay with me?" she asks, as if I could ever refuse my imprint anything.

I heard the buzzer unlock the door just as I got to the path and sure enough it's open when I push against it, I head up stairs and she opens the door in her pyjamas pretty much the same as what she was wearing the night she met my wolf in her back yard, except this time the little top she was wearing was a deep cobalt colour I loved the colour against her skin she always looked so good in blue. She smiled at me not saying anything then after shutting and locking the door she lead me by the hand to her bedroom her scent was so strong here her signature scent of Oranges and ginger flooded my senses and also notes of wild vanilla I'd never noticed before.

I kicked off my shoes by the door and she reached for my belt, instantly my mind jumped there but I soon realised that wasn't what she wanted tonight, she peeled the too tight t-shirt I was wearing off until I was stood in front of her in just my boxers and then she pulled me in the direction of the bed. Once under the covers i pulled her against my chest and placed a kiss in her hair, Adrian sighed into me and ran her finger tips up and down my back. After a little while she reaches over and flicks the bedside lamp off. "Thank you for coming back tonight" She says on a yawn.

"It's ok, trust me I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be right now" I tell her.

"Really?" she asks and I nod

"Good, me either" she says then pushes herself up and kisses me

That was the first night thatI slept with Adrian in my arms and it was perfect.

It was while I was picking her up for a date that her Dad finally called, he hadn't been in touch since that day I found her crying at the surf shack. I knew she'd been terribly worried about him but had done a really good job at hiding it sometimes I'd try to ask her about her Dad but she'd answer me in single words then quickly change the subject I guess she was used to it and this was how she'd learnt to deal with it. But the second she realised who her caller was she burst into tears and I could see the relief on her face. "Daddy I'm so glad you're ok I heard explosions and gunfire and then we got cut off" she said and without the noise of the bustling restaurant I was able to hear his response. Mr. Fox's voice was deep and gravely the man sounded like he chewed broken glass for breakfast. To be completely honest he sounded like one tough son of a bitch and I instantly saw where Adrian got her fiery and spunky attitude from.

"Hey there Princess Peach how's my best girl?" he said and I silently chuckled at the video game reference, I could hear in his voice how much he loved his daughter. He spoke to Adrian the same way my Father did Willow like she was the most precious thing in the world like she was the apple of his eye.

"Please tell me you're coming home soon?" she begs.

"Soon Peach soon" he says

"When is soon?" she asks

"Things will be taken care of here soon then I'll be heading back to the US" he tells her

"What do you mean back to the US, that means hear right Daddy, you're still coming to Washington right?" she says her voice trembling.

"Peach?"

"No Daddy please" she cries

"I'm sorry, I'll be at Cherry point for a little while, then we'll be together in Washington I promise"

"How long is a little while?"

"Maybe six months?" he says and Adrian just cries harder "Princess please don't cry it won't be so bad, Listen we're shipping out in a minuet and Leo's here he wants to talk to you if that's ok" he asks

"Yeah I guess" Adrian sniffles "I love you Daddy"

"Love you two Princess Peach, I'll be seeing you" he says then I hear fumbling on the other end of the line.

"Adrian?" a male voice asks, I can only assume it must belong to this Leo. But who the hell is he and what business does he have talking to my girl.

"Hey Leo" she says

"God it's good to hear your voice" he breathes. I see Adrian stiffen and glance at me but she obviously decides I can't hear him and looks away again.

"I'm glad you're ok, you better be looking after my Dad out there?" she says and I hear him laugh

"I promised didn't I?" He says and I hate how cocky he sounds "So tell me how's my baby?" he asks and I have to grip the sofa cushions to keep my temper in check.

"Fine, misses you though" she says. What! Is there something between the two of them?

"Yeah" he says and he sounds sort of sad, there sounds like a commotion on the other end of the line and the man called Leo sighs "Adrian I have to go, I love you and give Marina a kiss from me ok" he calls. He loves her who the fuck is he!

"I will both of you be careful" she says

"Always" Leo replies then the line goes dead. Adrian drops the phone onto the side and sobs I see her knees buckling and I'm up and have her in my arms before she can fall to the floor she cries into my chest and I comfort her.

My rage about the mystery man on the telephone subsides and I forget all about him, I pick Adrian up and carry her over to the sofa I settle her in my lap and hold her till she falls asleep in my arms.

The next morning I softly rouse Adrian from her sleep I'd taken her to her bed when I'd awoke in the dead of the night on her sofa with her still in my arms. She rolled over and slowly opened her eyes "Riddoc?" she murmurs still half asleep.

"I'm sorry to wake you but I have to go to work" I tell her

"Oh ok" she says

"Adrian I'm sorry about your Dad" I tell her and she smiles with a shrug

"It's ok he'll be home soon" she smiles. I kiss her goodbye then make my way to the garage in La Push. I spend the day obsessing over my imprint and the man she spoke to on the phone, I'm pretty sure by the time my patrol came up I'd driven my pack brothers half mad. My Dad was there when I phased and I felt reassured not just by my alpha's presence but because he was my Dad. He hadn't aged since he phased at sixteen although he'd always looked to be in his early twenty's he was still technically young so in a way my Dad was my best friend as much as Shila was.

_Me: hey Dad _

_Jake: why the long face Riddoc?_

I showed him everything, the phone call my imprint crying how scared and helpless I felt. Dad pondered what I'd shown him for a moment.

_Jake: I'm sure it's not how it seems, Adrian doesn't seem like that type of girl and who is this Marina?_

_Me: I've no idea, I wasn't even supposed to be able to hear that end of the conversation. I'd have some serious explaining to do if I asked her._

_Jake: she's your imprint Riddoc sooner or later you're gonna have some serious explaining to do either way._

I knew he was right and as much as I love Adrian and as much as she loved my wolf I don't think I'm ready to tell her my secret.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

I'd barely put a foot through the door when I heard Brady's pained howl closely followed by my Dad's. I wasn't sure what the hell was going on but I knew it couldn't be good I was stripping my clothes off as my mom ran to the door. "What is it what's happening did I hear Jake's howl?" she asked biting her nails. I pushed past her into the house and grabbed her car keys before she'd even turned to see what I was doing I wrapped my hand around her arm and ushered her to her car. "Riddoc?" she questioned but I didn't answer I wasn't sure what was happening but I'm pretty sure my Alpha's howl meant vampires.

"Get in the car go to Grandpa Edward and Grandma Bella's now" I told her and I scared myself how much like an alpha I sounded. My mom didn't argue she just got in the car. "Where's Willow?" I asked.

"She's at the surf shack with Adrian" she said tears filling her eyes

"I'll find her now go" I said and the second she started the engine I phased and ran like hell towards First beach and towards the rest of the pack everyone was phased even the older wolves that hadn't for a while.

_Me: Dad what is it?_

Before he could answer I was crushed by Brady's emotions, intense fear, panic, pain, all for his imprint, my sister, Willow. Then Dad showed me everything. Dad had done a double patrol today after he'd finished his patrol with me he'd gone straight into another with Brady. They'd been patrolling near the Canadian border when Willow had forced her way into Dad's head, she knew he'd be phased. Willow had been working hard to see just how far her talent's went and in the last year she'd realised if she focused enough she could project thoughts into Dad's head if he was phased she'd tried it on me once and put me in a coma for five days needless to say she hadn't tried again since. Great Grandpa Carlisle's theory was that either only Jake could hear her because he was her Father or because he was the pack Alpha and therefore was strong enough to take it. She couldn't project words as such but emotions were doable. The one she'd put in our Dad's head tonight was panic. Sheer and absolute panic.

_Jake: Brady's all over the place he too jittery use the imprint to track her_

I tried to block out Brady's inner monologue and focus on what Dad was saying he was repeating over and over how he'd never forgive himself if something happened to her Dad was right the dude was losing it.

_Jake: does anyone know where she could be_

_Me: she's with Adrian at the surf shack_

And suddenly I couldn't hold it in any longer all of my terror that my imprint and my sister were in harms way spilled out before I could stop it and the pack took off towards the coast.

Dad gave the order for me, Brady, Embry and himself to phase while the others waited at the tree line for orders. We quickly dressed and the four of us sprinted down the pier when we got there Forks police had the place cornered off they were dragging a burly man in hand cuffs down towards a parked police car. The chief of police Duncan Swan was there I suppose in some long winded way he was Dad's great Uncle in law, he was the son of Charlie Swan and Sue Clearwater, Leah and Seth's mom.

Just like his late father Duncan had followed in his father's footsteps and became a policeman, he was about ten maybe fifteen years older than me but he was still young to be chief. Duncan knew nothing of our world and although my great Grandpa Charlie had known something about something he didn't want Duncan to know Charlie always said don't ask you won't like it and Bella respected that and so did Duncan but he was no idiot he knew something wasn't right. For starters his half sister Bella and his Niece Ness hadn't aged since he was born. "Hey Chief you hear for little Lo" Duncan asked reaching to shake Dad's hand as always.

"She's ok?" My Dad asked sounding relieved.

"She's fine, she had a friend with her I wouldn't like to think how different things could have been had she been alone" Duncan said shaking his head. "She's asking for you Chief you can all go through if you like"

"Thanks Chief, Embry why don't you head back and tell the others the news" Dad suggested, I usually found it funny that my Dad and Duncan insisted on calling each other Chief but I was too panicked to find amusement in it right now.

"Sure thing Jake" Embry nodded and took off in a jog. Duncan lead us into the bar the first thing I smelt was blood and the hair on my neck stood up.

"Dad!" Willow squealed happily and ran straight into his arms, Brady started whining and whimpering next to him and after a minuet Dad rolled his eyes he passed Willow into Brady's waiting arms. I scanned the room and spotted my angel sat at the bar with a paramedic he was giving her stitches on the inside of her arm while she held an ice pack to her bottom lip. My heart sank my imprint my beautiful Angel was hurt, I managed to stumble my way to her and drop to my knees at her side her eyes lit up when they fell on mine.

"Oh Angel what happened?" I whispered.

"Hey it's not as bad as it looks" she tells me but when she pulls the ice pack away to talk I see her lip is swollen and burst open, I gasped and she quickly covered it back up. The paramedic finished up and left telling Adrian to take it easy and take some painkillers when she got home. "Please don't be worried or upset?" she says

"Riddoc?" Willow asks from behind me, I turn to look at her and she's holding her hands out for a hug. I smile and stand and hug her Willow places her palm against my cheek and I know she's about to show me something, so I close my eyes and wait for the vision to start.

Willow is sat in the bar with Adrian they're both laughing. "He's gonna love this Willow" Adrian tells her

"I hope so" Willow smiles "It's about time he realized I'm not sixteen anymore"

"Have you been dating long?" Adrian asks and Willow giggles, she was laughing at an inside joke because Brady had imprinted on her the day she was born so in reality they'd always been together of course Willow couldn't tell Adrian that.

"Well we were best friends first but we started dating officially when I was sixteen. It was pretty hard considering he was friends with Duck and my Dad but they could see how in love we were and they didn't maul him too much" she laughs

"Yeah I can see Riddoc doing that, he's very..." she trails off searching for the right word "Protective" She chooses and Willow laughs and nods.

"Yep he's always been quick to jump to someone's aid or defend a girls honour" Willow tells her

"Does he have a lot of girlfriends?" Adrian asks

"No of course not just you" Willow says

"What about in the past" she says

"Are you asking if he's a player?" Willow giggles "he had one serious girlfriend in high school then a couple of not so serious ones in college but he's been single since he came home last year. Willow was being polite when she said that, I wouldn't have said not so serious girlfriend's infact I don't think I'd have used the word girlfriend at all, but multiple mutual sex partners didn't really make me sound too good. Adrian and my sister sat and talked at the bar while working on the present for Brady it was his birthday in a couple of days I couldn't see what it was though Willow kept skipping bits so I wouldn't see and accidentally show Brady next time we were phased. All I could get was it involved Scissors and glue.

After a while Adrian got up and excused herself to the bathroom as soon as Adrian left the room the front doors slammed open and the man I'd just seen in handcuffs walked in he stumbled he was obviously drunk, Willow politely told the man the surf shack was closed and apologised but he didn't leave he came right up to Willow and backed her up against the counter. I felt the fear in my sisters eyes as she tried and failed to push the man away he was strong and big but human. Willow could have used her abilities but he was human and she'd always been told to never use them on humans. I watched as the scene unveiled in horror completely helpless in a quick motion he had Willow on her back on one of the tables grabbing at her clothes she screamed out for help and struggled and before I knew it Adrian was there and she swung a chair over her head and broke it across his back. He rolled off of Willow in pain and Adrian grabbed Willow pulling her up. She ushered Willow over to the door and pushed her towards it.

"Go Willow! Now!" she yelled and pushed her again then the man tackled Adrian around the waist and they both crashed to the floor in a tussle. Willow screwed her eyes shut and for the moment I could only hear the fight. Willow projected and called to our Dad she had no way of knowing if he'd heard she just had to hope she slumped to the floor exhausted and opened her eyes just in time for me to witness the drunk clock Adrian in the jaw. Willow immediately pulled out her phone dialling 911, while the man picked Adrian up and launched her against the wall of sprits behind the bar. Adrian crashed into it and her and every bottle hit the floor I heard her scream out in pain then not a second afterwards Adrian smashed a bottle of Jack over the mans face, he hit the floor knocking himself out in the process, Willow stumbled shakily over to Adrian there was a lot of blood. She hugged her and Willow cried.

Then my sister released her hold on me bringing me back to reality.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"What?" Adrian asked as I carried her up the stairs to her apartment, I chuckled again before answering her.

"Just thinking my girls pretty badass" I joke and she laughs briefly before sighing.

"Riddoc I'm so sorry" she says and I frown at her stopping at the door "I don't know what happened I swear I locked the front door I... I don't know, I never meant to put Willow in danger. I'm so sorry"

"Hey you saved her, you've nothing to be sorry for. And with everything that's been happening with your Dad it's completely understandable that locking the door slipped your mind" I tell her but she just nods slightly. I angle her so she can unlock the door and she lets us in to the apartment.

"You won't leave me will you?" she asks burying her face in my chest

"Of course not" I tell her. I carry her into the bedroom and she gets ready for bed this time not bothering with her regular pyjamas instead she strips down to little baby blue lace panties and reaches up to unfasten her matching bra, she has her back to me then reaches out to the chair and picks up the t-shirt I'd left here last night slipping it over her head before turning to look at me. She smiles shyly.

"This is mine now" she says and cocks an eyebrow in my direction I grin and nod my agreement.

"Fine by me" I tell her and she smiles.

Adrian walks over to where I'm stood and takes both of my hands, I hear her breathing quiver and her heart speed up she pulls me towards the bed and makes me sit on the edge at the foot. She straddles my lap then leans into my chest so I wrap my arms around her, I'm still shirtless from when I phased at my house earlier tonight. After a few moments of holding Adrian like this I realise she's starting to kiss my bare chest very lightly, she makes a trail of sweet kisses up to my neck where she gently bites my ear lobe. She kisses her way across my jaw pausing to place a kiss on my Adam's apple before continuing to the other lobe. She pulls my lips to hers roughly and kisses me hard, she pulls away and winces, touching her lip gingerly.

"Shit I'm sorry" I gasp

"It's not your fault" she says shaking head then kisses me again this time I pull back.

"No I don't want to hurt you" I say and she smiles

"Then you won't" and her lips brush mine again we kiss for a few more minuets before I sense she's in pain again.

"This is hurting you, I refuse to be what causes you pain. When this is healed" I say brushing the pad of my thumb just under her bottom lip "I will kiss you to within an inch of your life I promise" I tell her and she giggles, god I love that sound. "You're so beautiful and so brave, you haven't even cried. Adrian thank you"

"For what?" she asks

"Protecting Willow when I wasn't there to" I say simply.

"You know I reckon you are probably the best big brother ever, she really looks up to you and she loves you so much. I wish I had big brother" she says. "I have my friend Leo I guess I've always thought of him in sort of brotherly way but I suppose it's nothing compared to the real thing"

"You spoke to him when your Dad called, is he in the army too?" I ask

"Yeah Lieutenant under my Dad, he saved my Dad's life this one time and became practically family after that" she tells me with a shrug and I nod.

"Can I ask you something?" I ask

"Anything"

"Well it's really two things" I say and she smiles

"Alright"

"Adrian" I say and take a deep breath "I really really care about you and I like you lot, I love spending time with you and when I have to spend a day apart from you... it sounds kind of lame but I miss you like crazy. I just want you to know that I'm serious about you about me and you becoming you know an 'us'. So I would be really happy if you'd consider being my girlfriend. I know it's a big step but I'm ready when you are, I just wanted to say that" I say and let a relieved sigh that I actually managed to get it all out. She stares at me for a second then swats me in the arm.

"You ass hole" she breathes

"What I?..."

"Do you realise what the first half of that speech sounded like? It sounded like you were breaking up with me" she says

"What?"

"Oh 'I like you and I care about you but can we just be friends!'" she says impersonating me "That's where it sounded like you were going"

"No I... no I don't wanna break up with you" I say

"I know that now, Shit! Riddoc, I like you and I really care about you, and I like spending time with you and I miss you when we don't too," she says and I can't stop the thrilled grin that claims my face. I was so unbelievable happy if I was phased my tail would be wagging like mad. "Ok so what was the second question?" she asks

"This one's more of my Dad asking but that doesn't mean I don't want you to say yes, unless you say no then it was all him" I joke

"Ok what is it?" she laughs

"Would you like to have dinner at my house with my family one night this week?" I ask

"Wow, meeting the rents? Erm... sure" she smiles

"Really because if it's too fast or you'd be uncomfortable then you don't have to" I say

"Riddoc you know me well enough to know I don't do things that I don't want to" she says and I nod she could be stubborn as hell but if anything I just found her annoying tendencies endearing I really was just a fool in love. "I want to meet your parents and I would love to be introduced as your girlfriend when I do"

I pulled her closer and stood up with her in my arms before turning and laying her down on her back and positioning myself over her. I start kissing her neck and her jaw, she mews and and moans beneath me, "you might be in too much pain to kiss me but I can still kiss you" I breathe against her collar bone then continue my path of kisses. Adrian grabs my hands and moves them under her t-shirt, well my t-shirt and I push it up to her ribs. I move lower and start to place kisses across her toned smooth stomach I stop over her belly button and flick her naval ring with my finger and she giggles "I love this" I tell her and place a kiss over it.

"Really why?" she asks

"Don't know it's just sexy" I tell her and there's that little giggle again.

"I had it done when I was thirteen, an act of rebellion against my uncle Marlin you should have seen him when I got my first tattoo, I thought he'd had an aneurysm" she laughs

"Which one was your first?" I ask her

"My compass. I wanted it somewhere I could show it off and rub in his face you know, it's stupid now but I was young" she says then squeals as I move to her ribs

"Oh ticklish here are we?" I joke and she laughs.

I move across to other side where her skin is scrolled with ink, this is the first time I've properly seen this tattoo. It's an elegant font which reads 'Do not wait for the last judgement, for it comes everyday' I read it aloud and she looked at me and smiled, I looked back at the quote and I knew how much the words must have meant to her for her to have them forever written on her skin, so I kissed them all over. It was true after all when we judged ourselves everyday what did the last judgement matter when there where's no hope to better yourself afterwards, wasn't that the point of judgement? "Do you want to know my favourite one?" I ask

"You have one?" she asks and I nod, I trail kisses all the way down her stomach and over her hip. I sit back on my heels and lift her leg up so I can continue down her leg till I reach the paw print on the top of her foot, I place a kiss over the top of it then grin at her "This one" I say and she bites her lip, She winces and quickly releases it.

I kiss my way up the other leg and over her stomach again I want to worship every inch of her I don't want to leave a single morsel of skin un-kissed. I take the ends of the t-shirt and she smiles nodding her permission for me to remove it so I do, her bare breasts are so beautiful and I have to wet my lips, I cover her body with mine and kiss and nip at her breast I graze my lips over her nipple it tightens and she moans, I take a breath to steady myself and take it in my mouth sucking and licking her into a writhing, gasping frenzy beneath me, worsening her frustration when I move and give its twin the same amount of love and attention.

"Riddoc" she gasps and I feel my pants tighten merely at the sound, I decide to take a chance as nervous as this girl makes me and decide to do something that's maybe just a little bold. Gently kissing down to the pit of her stomach I tuck one finger under the waistband of her panties and glance up at her, she stills but her breathings still labored.

"Adrian?" I ask, shocking myself at how deep and gravely my voice has gotten.

"Please?" she practically begs and I don't leave her waiting, I have to reign myself in from just tearing the panties off of her and instead slip them down her legs. I'm not surprised to discover she's just as perfect here as she is everywhere else, her heart pounds inside her chest and I love the way her breast heave up and down as she pants.

Spreading her legs a little I run my tongue along her growling at the sweet taste I push my tongue in harder moving it faster listening for her encouraging groans of pleasure. She's screaming my name and thrusting her hips up off of the bed and all but ripping my hair out before long. I roughly flick my tongue against her clit one more time and she falls apart, with me loving every second of the bliss I took her to. As soon as my back hits the mattress beside her, her hand finds my hardness and starts to pump and tug at me, I groan and hiss through my teeth, her hands feel so good on me.

"Adrian you don't have to" I pant

"You just gave me possibly the greatest orgasm I've ever had, please let me do something for you?" she says and I'm filled with delight at her statement. She draws my own orgasm out and just as I decide I can't hold it in a second longer as if sensing this she moves quickly and covers me with her mouth and I release against the back of her throat.

Lying together naked that night it was beautiful and wonderful, I rolled to my side to kiss her neck and she sighed happily. "Riddoc Black I think there's a high possibility that that mouth of yours is magical" she giggles.

"I think you might be too Angel" I whisper.

"Mmm I like that" she says

"What Angel?" I ask and I feel her nod. and I just can't stop the smile that takes me over.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Brady was having a party at the Uley's house; even though Dad was Alpha now and Sam had retired it was still the pack house. Emily still took care of us and fed us at all hours of the morning and Sam was always there for advice Wolf related or otherwise. Willow was super excited about the party and seemed to be taking what had happened that night in Adrian's bar pretty well, as well as she could be considering some drunk had forced himself on her. I still had no idea what Brady's gift was, Willow said it was a secret and all I'd managed to get out of Adrian was it was the kind of gift a big brother never wanted to see, I stopped asking after that.

Adrian and I had dinner with my parents last night, it had gone really well my parents loved her and I was glad that it wasn't just because she was my imprint they genuinely really liked her. Though I had spent the night grumbling because Willow was hogging a lot of my imprints attention, Dad just laughed at me while Mom gushed and smiled I could tell in her head she was already picking out China patterns.

It had gotten late and Adrian had stayed over, it was kind of weird having her in my bedroom, I'd had the same bedroom since I was born and it looked just like it had before I left for college. When I woke she wasn't in the bed next to me, I instantly started panicking then the sound of a guitar travelled up the stairs to my ears and I knew it must be Adrian so I quickly dressed and just followed the music. I found my angel sitting with my sister out on the deck; I didn't want to disturb them so I just sat at the kitchen table and watched them for a moment.

Willow was holding a Spanish guitar while Adrian instructed her where to put her fingers, the guitar belonged to Brady he was here so much that a lot of his stuff was here too. Brady thought he was god's gift to music let me tell you... he wasn't.

He thought he was the next Jimmy Hendrix when in reality he sounded more like a bag of cats being swung against a wall. Willow was doing really well I'm pretty sure she'd never played a guitar before but I guess that was her vampire side she was so intelligent sometimes it scared me. "Willow that's fantastic I can't believe how quickly you've picked this up" Adrian says.

"You really think I'm doing ok?" Willow asks.

"Yeah, you've got a real attitude for music do you play other instruments?" she asks

"Piano and a little violin I played a harp once" Willow tells her and Adrian looks impressed

"What are your plans after you graduate honey?" Adrian asks and I see Willow's face fall a little. She knows it's not feasible for her to attend a college the only reason she can handle going to a real high school is because it's so close and because she had two of the wolf pack guys with her at all times. For her to actually be away from home alone for any real amount of time just wouldn't be possible it would be too dangerous for Willow and anyone she was around.

"I guess I haven't really thought about it" Willows says with a shrug.

"Well Riddoc told me you're a dancer, jazz and ballet right?" Adrian asks and Willow nods "With the musical talent you just displayed I bet you could get into a performing arts school you know? A good one too"

"Really?" Willow asks

"Really do you sing too?" Adrian asks

"Well a little but not usually in front of anybody" Willow says shyly and it's true I don't think I've ever heard Willow sing.

"Would you sing with me?" Adrian asks and my sister's face lights up

"I'd love to Duck says you have the most beautiful voice" Willow says and Adrian laughs

"Does he now?" she asks and takes the guitar from Willow "How about 'let it be' by the Beatles you know that one?" Adrian asks and Willow nods eagerly and hands over the guitar. Adrian starts playing the opening cords and she leads Willow in. Willow sings the first line of the song and her voice rings out clear and sweet. After letting Willow take the first verse Adrian comes in for the chorus and their two very different voices compliment each other so perfectly. I look up to see my Mom has come to stand next to me and is watching her daughter sing with my imprint, I see a tear run down her cheek but she's smiling.

"Wow Willow that was beautiful" Adrian tells her once the songs over

"Thank you but I still don't think I could go to a performing arts college, the good ones are in New York I don't think my parents would let me be that far from home. Especially after what happened this weekend" Willow says

"Willow, what happened at the bar was a horrible unfortunate incident, that guy was off his face and a complete pig you can't base the rest of your life off of it, besides do you really think Brady would let you off the res let alone the state without being by your side?"

"I guess not"

"I've seen the way he looks at you, that boy would jump into a burning building for you, with not a thought for his own life, he loves you, and if you did go to school in New York he'd follow and you know it" Adrian tells her.

"I guess you're right, Thanks Adrian You're really cool you know that"

"I've been told" She jokes and they both laugh

"I'm really glad you're with my brother, because it means we might be sisters one day" Willow tells her in a sing song voice

"Whoa easy, I'm not thinking about that just yet and he sure as hell better not be either" Adrian laughs

"Do you love him?" Willow asks and my Mom smirks at me before leaving the kitchen

"Willow I can't answer that I've not even been his girlfriend a week"

"So that's a yes" Willow teases and I wait with baited breath for my Adrian to confess her love for me.

"No it's not a yes" Adrian chuckles

"It's not a no either though is it?" Willow asks and Adrian laughs

"You are too smart for your own good, you know that?"

"I know, now I'm gonna go harass my Dad about colleges" Willow says and hops up and skips off.

"Hey you didn't get the idea from me!" she shouts after her and I hear Willow giggling in the distance.

I didn't bring up their conversation when Adrian found me sitting in the kitchen shortly afterwards I just pretended I'd only just sat down. We headed over to the Uley's for Brady's birthday at about five all of the pack was there including the original and retired members like Sam, Paul, Jared and Quil. Plus all of the pack kids who hadn't caught wolf fever Megan Ateara and Lucinda Cameron, as well as all of the imprints. Six year old Megan was the first to run up and hug me, I quickly scooped her up and she squealed. "Hey little Megs" I say and kiss her cheek.

"Hey Uncle Duck" she says hugging me tightly

"Megs I want you to meet someone special" I say and carry her over to where Adrian is stood. "Megan say hi to my girlfriend Adrian" I say Adrian smiles at Megan and Megan shyly hides her face in my neck. "This is Megan, Trey's little sister" I tell Adrian. Megan moves to whisper something to me,

"Is she an imprint?" She asks

"Yeah but it's a secret" I whisper back. I put her down and she runs off.

When Shila arrives he puts his arm around Adrian and jokes about how badass she is for saving Willow the way she did, obviously the whole pack had seen what Willow had shown me by now. Adrian laughed it off and Shila went in search of his imprint Lucinda.

I spend half of the night keeping an eye on Brady and making sure his hands stay on top of my baby sister's clothes and the other half of the night watching Adrian Laugh and Joke with Leah and the other imprints. It makes me smile and I hope one day when she knows my secret she'll be happy with this life.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen

This was it, I was going to tell her and it was going to be fine. i took a few deep breathes and paced up and down the path to Adrian's building, telling myself it was gonna be ok. She'd be mad at fist maybe even a little freaked out but then she'd be pissed again. I'm not sure why but I really think she's gonna be really steamed when i told her my secret. Maybe now wasn't the best time.

Then I pressed the buzzer for Adrian's apartment, the last thing I was expecting was for a little girl to answer the intercom. She sounded about five or six and had a Cali accent like Adrian. "Fox residence?" The little girl asked and I tried not to laugh at how incessantly cute she is.

"Hi is Adrian Fox there?" I ask

"Yep" the little girl says then the line goes quiet

"So can I speak to her?" I ask after a while

"Erm... ok, Aid!" she shouts and I wait

"What's up my little Bambino" I hear Adrian ask

"There's a weird man at the door" the girls tells her

"Who is this?" Adrian asks and I laugh

"It's just me angel can I come up?" I ask

"Sure" she says and the door clicks open. When I get to Adrian's floor she's left the door open for me I let myself in and Adrian walks out into the hall to meet me she wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me passionately. It's been three weeks since she got hurt at the surf shack that night she saved Willow and I'm yet to follow through on my promise of kissing her within an inch of her life, infact we're yet to even sleep together even though we've been dating for over a month. "Hey I missed you" she whispers and kisses me again.

"You did?" I ask

"I did" she nods and kisses me again

"I missed you too, who's the cutie answering the door?"

"That would be Marina. She's staying with me for a couple of weeks"

"Who is she?" I ask

"Leo's kid, she lives with her grandparents in San Francisco but her grandpa got sick and her Grandmother asked me to take her next thing I know Marina's on a train to Seattle waiting to be picked up" she explains with a sigh.

"Is he gonna be ok?" I ask and she looks suddenly sad

"I don't think so" she shakes her head. Adrian leads me into her bedroom where Marina is playing on the bed with the toy dog I'd won for Adrian the night we went bowling. "Marina come and introduce yourself sweetie, we have a guest" Adrian tells her. Marina jumps off of the bed and comes to stand in front of me and Adrian.

"Hello my names Marina Evans nice to meet you" she says and does a little curtsey holding up the corners of her dress as she does. I squat down to her level and smile at her.

"Riddoc Black" I say and hold out my hand to her, she glances at Adrian

"Go on it's ok" Adrian reassures her, Marina looks back at me and shakes my hand, she holds up the toy dog for me to see

"This is Blackie he's pleased to meet you too" she says

"Blackie? But he's white" I say with a frown and Marina giggles

"I know but that's what Adrian said his name was" she tells me and I turn to Adrian

"Blackie?" I ask

"It seemed fitting after a certain Mr. Black won him for me" she smiles and I grin back. Adrian turns to Marina and takes the stuffed animal "Oh no Riddoc can you feel that I think Blackie has a temperature" she pretend gasps but Marinas eyes widen and she smacks her hand over her mouth

"Oh no!" I say playing along "if only there was a Vet in the house" I say and Adrian beams at me

"I'm a Vet I'm a Vet!" Marina says jumping up and down

"Then you better take him doctor I think he has a cold" Adrian says and passes Blackie back to Marina "We'll go make some special get well soup while you make him all better" Adrian says then pulls me out of the room and half shuts the door. We go into the kitchen and she slumps into my arms.

"Kids are hard work huh?" I laugh

"That poor kid, I wish Leo would just see what she has to deal with and come home I mean she's his daughter doesn't that mean anything to him" she whispers I hug her tighter realising how similar to her own childhood this must feel to her. I guess right now really is a bad time to dump the fact that her boyfriends a shape shifting wolf.

"I'm sorry this put a dampener on our date" she says

"Don't worry its fine, we can just swap that new Mexican place for a McDonalds" I joke

"Ooh I could go for a cheese burger right now" she says and starts to kiss me, it grows heated and I completely forget there's a small child in the apartment and pick Adrian up by the hips sitting her on the counter.

"Adrian?" Marina's small voice snaps us out of our lip lock "Where's Blackie's get well soup?" she asks.

"It's coming Bambino you have to wait for it to heat up, when you've given Blackie his soup would you like to go to McDonalds?" Adrian asks her.

"Yay McNuggets!" Marina sings then she skips off again.

When we got home and Adrian had tucked Marina into the Spare bedroom bed she joined me on the sofa. Adrian straddled my legs, laid her head against my chest and sighed. "You ok?" I ask wrapping my arms around her.

"Yeah I just... I got a call off of my Dad last night" she tells me.

"That's great what did he say?"

"His unit's shipping out to Cherry Point on Monday" she sighs

"That's good though right at least he's here he's out of the firing line" I try

"Yeah I know. I just wonder how long it'll last six months then he'll move out here with me but how long for?"

"For good, that's what he promised you" I tell her

"You don't know my Dad Riddoc, he has a long history of not keeping his promises" she says

"Don't think like that, you said so yourself how easily things fell into place here if that's not a sign that you're meant to be here I don't know what is" I say and I feel her smile

"Yeah I guess"

"What are you gonna do about Marina when you have work?" I ask

"I guess I'll just have to take her with me" she shrugs.

A week later Marina was still staying with Adrian and she'd received news that her Grandfather had passed away like Adrian had predicted. Marina seemed to be taking it pretty well; Adrian had sat her down and explained what had happened to her. Marina didn't even cry she said she understood and he was in a better place now. Either the poor kid was too young to fully comprehend what we were telling her or she was just mature for her age but either way she was coping really well.

I pulled up outside Adrian's apartment building the three of us were going to a barbeque on the beach with the pack. I'm about to roll my window up when I hear raised voices, I look across the street and see a man carrying Marina across the lawn followed by Adrian. "What do you want me to say Leo?" Adrian sighs sounding exasperated.

"Nothing you've said enough!" he shouts

"I'm sorry if you can't handle the truth but that's what it is!" Adrian snaps throwing her hands up

"Bullshit! I don't buy it!"

"Don't swear in front of your kid"

"Don't chastise me Adrian. I know how to be a Father" he tells her pointing fingers now

"That's funny considering you're never around to be one!" Adrian yells

"I'm doing my job I'm doing it for my country" he argues

"To hell with this country! What about your daughter? She should mean more to you than some dam flag!" Adrian spits

"Don't do that Adrian! Don't throw all of your hate at your Father at me!"

"If you keep doing this to her your relationship will end up just like mine and his, and you know what she'll resent you for it!" Adrian screams and tears pour down her face, Leo takes a deep breath then sets Marina down on her feet.

"Get it the car Marina?" he tells her

"But Daddy I wanna stay with Aid" Marina asks and he gives her a stern look

"Car! Now!" he bellows and in the same second I decide I can't just take a back seat any longer. Marina is the first to spot me.

"Riddoc!" she squeals excitedly and runs over to me she jumps into my arms and I balance her on my fore arm, her tiny arms wrapping around my neck.

"And this!" Leo shouts pointing at me "You've been here playing happy families with my kid and some other guy!"

"Oh you're saying it like I went behind your back" she practically hisses lowering her voice to the point where she doesn't think I can hear. If I was human I know I wouldn't be able to "There never was and never will be anything between us"

"Then why did you kiss me?" he demands and I feel my body go weak, she kissed him?

"It was one kiss Leo, a year ago. It was fucking new years for Christ's sake and I was very drunk, I thought we were friends if I'd known the hassle it would end up causing me I wouldn't have done it" she scowls at him

"I love you ok? We can play Happy family together just you me and Marina, I'll terminate my service, I'll marry you" he begs and she sighs

"Leo stop?"

"Adrian baby?"

"I don't love you" she tells him

"But you love him?" he asks and I wait for her to blow the question off.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

"I told you, I do" she says and I almost drop Marina in shock. Did she really just say that she loves me?

"I need to go" Leo whispers

"Leo I'm sorry" she says and he shakes his head

"Save it" he tells her then starts to walk over to me and Marina "Let go of my kid" he tells me and reluctantly I set her down. "Time to go" he tells her and takes her hand and takes her over to the jeep

"But Daddy I want to say goodbye? Daddy!" Marina cries as he wrenches the jeep door open. I stride up to him and pull him back by the shoulder he turns and glares at me

"Let them say goodbye" I tell him unexpectedly he socks me in the jaw, I barley move but I hear the snap of a bone breaking in his hand.

"Leo!" Adrian yells and Marina runs straight to Adrian. Leo stares at me in shock while he clutches his probably now throbbing hand. He turns to Adrian

"Two minuets then we're leaving" he says. Adrian glances between us then quickly scoops Marina up and hugs her, Leo walks around the jeep and gets in the drivers seat.

"It's gonna be ok Bambino, we'll see each other real soon I promise" she says as the little girl sobs. She helps Marina into the back seat where she waves goodbye to both of us until Leo's jeep turns the corner and disappears out of sight.

"Are you ok?" Adrian asks turning to me and inspecting my jaw bone, I pull her hand away and just stare into her eyes for a few moments. "What?" she asks with a laugh.

"I love you too" I tell her and she gasps

"You heard that?" she frowns

"Bit's and pieces" I lie easily with a shrug

"I'm sorry you had to see any of that" she says

"I'm not otherwise who knows how long it might have taken for you to admit you'd fallen for me?" I joke and she laughs. "Do you think Marina will be alright?" I ask.

"She loves her Dad and when's he's actually around he's a good Dad, she'll be fine" she tells me

"I love you" I tell her and she smiles

"Yes we've established that" she giggles

"I like finally being able to say it out loud" I say still smiling like I slept with a hanger in my mouth.

"Finally?" she asks cocking an eyebrow "How long have you wanted to say that to me?"

"You'd be terrified if I told you" I say and she laughs obviously assuming I'm joking, although in reality it's far from it.

I scooped Adrian up and carried her into the apartment, she cooked lasagne for the two of us and we watched old re-runs on TV. She sat up suddenly and turned to me with a little smirk on her face. "I got a little present for you, i actually got it a little while ago but i really want you to have it now" she smiles.

"What for?" I ask

"Well because you were so great with Marina, I know her being here was unexpected and I know she's hard work, but she's my God daughter" she shrugs "so anyway I just wanted you to know much I appreciate you, and not just for this week" she says and I smile back.

"Ok" I say

"Stay here?" she asks and I nod. She hops up off of the sofa and disappears into her bedroom and I hear her click the door shut. I hear her rustling about but try to concentrate on the TV so I won't spoil the surprise.

I hear the bedroom door open again after a good fifteen minuets and then her bare feet padding towards me, "Riddoc" she barley whispers and I turn around to look at her over the back of the sofa. Before me I see my angel leaned against the door jamb dressed in a dark blue teddy. My eyes widen and my mouth grows dry as I take her in I have to swallow and wet my lips. She bites her lip and either my jeans have shrunk in the crotch area or I'm harder than I've ever been in my life, she's so beautiful and so sexy.

I just sit there staring panting heavily until she giggles and tilts her head to look at me. "Do you like it?" she asks oh so innocently and I swallow hard as I watch her toy with the hem.

"Very nice" I stammer, nodding.

"Then what are you still doing over there?" she asks then slowly turns her back to me and glances at me over her shoulder with a playful smile on her face and I know it means I'm supposed to follow. I jump up almost tripping over my own feet in the process, I switch the TV off and make my way to her bedroom.

I push the door open and find her sat on the edge of the bed with the lights off and candles lit on the dresser and nightstand, I smile and walk over to her before I know it she leaps into my arms and forces her mouth against mine.

I lay her on the bed and climb on top of her, keeping my lips against hers, I slip my knee in-between hers to get us closer and after a moment we're writhing against each other. I pull one strap down her arm until I reveal her breast then trailing my lips from her mouth to there I suck and kiss at it. With one hand I pin both of hers above her head on the mattress and with my other hand I skim it down her stomach and in between her legs she moans louder and harder my tongue still gently flickering against her now stiffened nipple. She lifts her hips grinding herself against my hand so I insert another finger causing her to scream out in pure lust. I have to release her hands to uncover her other breast and as soon as I do her hands start to undress me she has me naked in minuets while I suck at her other nipple she wraps her hand around my length and starts to stroke and squeeze until I'm thrusting myself into her hand too.

"Riddoc. This. Off." She pants and gasps every word and I waste no time in obeying and relieving her of the garment. We fall together naked once again and with her hand still on me she guides me closer until the tip touches her entrance and we both moan loudly. "Riddoc please?" she begs

"Not yet" I tell her and start to kiss my way down her body, I want her to come at least once before I enter her. I've made the mistake of not readying girls before and causing them pain due to my size but I wouldn't do the same with Adrian, I refused to hurt her in any way. I'd never thought myself particularly big downstairs I thought what I had was decidedly average until I phased and saw just how many more inches I had on the rest of the pack. They'd teased me about my huge package at first but I quickly figured out it was just jealousy, let's just say uncle Jared doesn't drive that massive humvee around because it looks good.

I buried my tongue deep inside her and she gasped in delight "Fuck!" she cursed loudly her hips bucking forward. I rolled onto my back taking her with me and keeping her exactly where I wanted her then I ran my tongue all the way up to her clit receiving more throaty moans from my imprint. I looked up at her riding me this way from my position between her thighs she looked like some sort of goddess it spurred me on to work her over harder and faster until she screamed her release.

I flipped us over earning a little surprised gasp from Adrian at the sudden movement, I grinned then lined myself up with her. I pushed in slowly and watched as she clamped her teeth down on her bottom lip. Her Fingers dug in almost painfully to my biceps as I finally buried every last inch of myself inside of her, and how I'd longed to be exactly where I was right now. It was even better than I'd imagined so warm, so tight, she was perfect. I gave her a minuet to adjust while I kissed all of her beautiful face. I knew Adrian wasn't a virgin, neither was I but I didn't want her in any pain so I was taking it slowly, she was so tight around me and I was so big it was a wonder I'd managed to fit all of me in there. So when I eventually started to move and she winced I was mortified, I swore I wouldn't hurt her and I had. "Wait?" she half moaned half panted. "You're too big this way" she said. I didn't know my imprint had that kind of strength in her but she managed to catch me off guard and flick us over so I was on my back still inside of her.

The angle was different and it felt amazing, when she started to slowly raise and lower her hips my mind went blank in the ecstasy of it all. When I'd had sex in the past that was all it had been, sex. I'd been a selfish lover to my past partners I didn't exactly take pleasure in hurting them but I didn't lose sleep over it if I did, sex for me in the past had been only about me, I was always the one in control I was the dominant one, I was always on top that's if I ever gave them the luxury of a bed. But with Adrian it was different, I was different I wanted to please her more than I wanted my own pleasure, I didn't care that she was the one in control, not one bit infact I liked being overpowered, as the future Alpha it was a change of pace I wasn't used to but it was a welcome one.

But soon the wolf in me couldn't let her have her way and in seconds I was on top and back in control I ploughed into her and her scream was all pleasure no pain. I grabbed her legs by the backs of her knees and lifted them to where I wanted them, circling and thrusting her into her third then forth orgasm of the night, I loved making her come she looked so beautiful when she did, her eyelids too exhausted to open her perfect plump lips slightly parted and swollen form my kisses. I was so close but I could feel how close my wolf was to the surface he wanted to be with our imprint as much as I did, he wanted me to bend her over and take her roughly before biting her on the neck and marking her as mine but I wasn't ready I couldn't trust myself or my wolf to be with her that fully yet she had to know what I was first. I came inside her and I had to grip the bed frame and sink my teeth into her pillow to keep the wolf locked inside, I'd never felt like that before it wasn't uncommon to involuntary phase because of intense emotion like anger or sadness but I'd never heard of one of my pack brothers almost doing so after the best sex of his life.

I panted and growled into the pillow for a good few minuets before I realised I was probably crushing Adrian. I unsheathed myself and rolled into the space next so her, her pillow was ruined and I could smell blood on the sheets, I looked her body over she seemed to be in one piece, no cuts but definitely some bruises forming on her hips, so why could I smell blood. Her face was a picture of contentment her eyes softly shut, a smile on her lips and her chest still moving heavily from our love making.

"Are you hurt?" I ask her and her eyes shoot open

"What? No" she tells me, but I smelt the blood I don't believe her, I sit up and look her over again, she follows me and frowns.

"Adrian?" I sigh and show her the blood stains beneath her "I hurt you" I say and hang my head, I thought I'd managed to keep the wolf in but apparently I was just as capable of hurting her. She flushed bright red staring at the sheets for a second then shook it off and cupped my face and brought me up close to hers.

"What we just shared was beautiful and amazing please don't spoil it?" she asks "I'm not hurt, I love you Riddoc, please don't?" she says

"I love you too" I tell her and lie back down with her in my arms.

I was up and out of the apartment before Adrian woke up.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

I went straight to the garage where I knew my Dad would be and atleast some of the wolf pack too. When I got there I saw Shila and Collin working on an old Chevy and my Dad in the office chatting with Embry. He must have heard me come in because he looked up through the window and frowned when he saw my face. He came down to the forecourt followed by Embry I wanted to break down and just cry on my knees in the dirt. "Riddoc what happened?" Dad asked me his tone serious

"I hurt her" I murmur my throat so thick I can barley speak

"Hurt who Adrian? What do you mean you hurt her?" Dad asks

"It's pretty obvious Jake he reeks of blood and sex" Collin says from the nearby Chevy spinning a wrench in his hand twice "What the hell did you do Duck?" My vision clouds and I see red, I feel the familiar tremor then I phase.

"Oh shit" I hear Embry say, I lunge at Collin and he barley has time to phase before I'm on him

"Outside!" Dad Bellows it's a command I have no choice and neither does Collin. We tumble outside and I go for him again, Collin's smaller then me and he tries to defend himself but it's no use, I'm stronger and faster. He's in a heap on the ground before a red wolf and a sandy wolf pull me off of him.

_Jake: Riddoc! Stand down now!_

I snarl at my Alpha and he stands up straighter, I'm an Alpha too I have every right to Challenge him, weather he's my father or not and that's exactly what my wolf is trying to do. I don't want this fight I'm just upset and angry and I hope my Dad can see that. In all honesty I don't know who would win in a fight between the two of us and I hope I never find out.

_Jake: me too son, now stand down_

This time I obey I collapse onto my belly and whimper before lifting my head and letting out a pained howl.

An hour later almost the entire pack is at the garage. Anyone who phases and attempts to glimpse into my mind gets there ass handed to them much in the same way Collin did earlier, in fact the only person I've let near me all day is my Dad. They gathered at the back door watching me and discussing how best to handle me as if I couldn't hear them, idiots. "I swung by the Surf shack like you asked Jake, she seems fine" Shila says

"Yeah I mean his scent was all over her but she was in one piece" Miles adds

"Maybe he meant mentally, maybe they argued?" Shila suggests

"Shila's got a point Jake, maybe he didn't mean physically. What if she broke up with him, she is his imprint something like that could easily put him in the sorry state he's in now" Embry says

"No I could feel it he meant physically, that's why he's so distraught. Hurting your imprint physically is much more emotionally painfully than some harsh words" Dad tells them.

"Can we just cut the crap. Jake you're Alpha just make him tell you already" Miles says

"He's much stronger in the mind than I. I can't make him show me you all see what happens when I try, it sets his wolf off and makes it want to challenge mine it's the natural way Father and Son or not. He is stronger, younger and faster and ultimately the better Alpha he lets me take command because I'm his father. So how about you show a little respect to my son, your true Alpha" Dad tells him in his own Alpha tone. He always reminds me of the Dad from the Lion King when he does that, his voice is so powerful and wise. I hope if I ever do become Alpha I'm a good one like him.

Everyone has a shot at getting me to phase back but I won't listen they're smart enough to only approach me in human form but when they do I just turn away from them. I don't want to talk, I hate myself for what I've done to Adrian. I know that it could have been so much worse, I could have hurt her so much more than I had, I could have lost control completely, hell I could have gone wolf on her, I could have killed her. I was so selfish she could have been killed all because I wanted to get off, and if she knew what I had subjected her to she'd hate me too.

"Right that's it where is he?" I hear a familiar voice. Auntie Leah comes storming out of the back door to the garage closely followed by my Mom and and my sister. "Riddoc William Carlisle Black! What the hell do you think you are doing" Leah asks, she's pissed, she middle named me, both of my middle names.

She scowls at me with her hands on her hips and I roll over so I'm facing the other way. "Hey! I'm talking to you, so help me do not make me phase, I haven't phased for three months if that changes because of you I will kick your ass" she yells I snort knowing if any ass kicking was gonna take place I would be the one doing it. She walks around to my head and smacks me hard on the nose and I growl.

"Leah honey?" Embry calls nervously from the back door

"I can handle him Bry" she tells him and smacks me on the nose again. This vicious cycle goes on for a couple of minuets and in the end I phase back purely so I can tell her where to get off.

"Fuck off Leah!" I shout and walk towards the garage where Shila chucks me a pair of brown sweats.

"That's more like it, now everyone clear out of here Duck and I need to talk" she tells everyone and they all head inside. I faintly hear the radio get turned up as a loud as it will go from inside the garage so nobody will hear our conversation, I silently thank whoever that was. "Ok now start talking?"

"Leah you couldn't possibly understand, you're not imprinted" I tell her

"Maybe not but I know what it's like to be in love I know what it's like to have someone you'd do absolutely anything for" she says

"I hurt my imprint, physically hurt her. We slept together for the first time last night, I knew it would be intense and different because she's my soul mate the others had already prepared me for that but I... I struggled to keep my wolf in and it was so close to the surface that I... I hurt her Lee" I heave out

"When you're with someone you love that much it can be hard to control the wolf it's normal" she tries

"No bruising her skin and making her draw blood is not normal" I snap through clenched teeth

"Duck stop it, stop beating yourself up over this, didn't you hear the guys they went to see her at the surf shack and she's fine. You should go to her, if you really think you've hurt her that much you need to go apologise not mope around here" she tells me and she's right. It was just that this morning when I saw the bruises fully formed I couldn't bare waiting around for Adrian's reaction I knew how angry she'd be that I marked her skin, that I'd defaced her. I couldn't lay there just for her to wake up and tell me to get out anyway.

But Leah was right no matter how much Adrian would hate me no matter how sorry for myself I was feeling right now I owed her an apology. I was gonna need flowers.

Half an hour later I was pressing the buzzer for Adrian's apartment. She answered it and to my surprise when she found out it was me she buzzed me in without so much as a hesitation. She opened the door to me with a huge smile on her face another surprise and practically beamed when she saw the flowers. "Are they for me?" she gasps and I nod "Riddoc they're so pretty" she says taking them gratefully and leading the way into the kitchen.

I decide now is as good of a time as any to start my apology but just as I open my mouth she cuts me off. "I was worried when I woke up and you were gone you know, was it because of last night? Did I do something wrong?" she asks "I knew it" she sighs before she even lets me answer "I knew the lingerie and the candles were too much, I shouldn't have initiated it it made you feel emasculated didn't it?" she says.

"What no, last night was perfect you were perfect it was me who was... I'm so sorry I'm so ashamed?" I tell her hanging me head

"Ashamed? Of us? Of what we did?" she asks

"No God no... I, Adrian I hurt you" I say she looks at me for a second then rolls her eyes

"Riddoc we went through this last night it was just a little blood, I refuse to believe with your... size that that was a first"

"No but it's never happened to a girl I was in love with before, I can't bear to hurt you" I whisper. She sighs and shakes her head, she pushes past me and walks into the the guest bedroom where her guitars and music are and comes back holding a CD. She holds it out to me and I read the title 'Third rib and up' I glance at her confused.

"Go and listen to that album, and after listening to my music and really hearing the lyrics come back and tell me I don't like it rough, I don't like everything you did to me last night and that I don't love the fact that the brief pain is a sweet little reminder of where you've been every time I sit down today" she says and I blank for a second. She had a point most of Adrian's music was about sex, rough sex in particular.

"But the bruises" I murmur

"Don't even hurt and when I noticed them in the shower this morning I couldn't stop myself from grinning like a complete moron and haven't been able to at any point today" she tells me and after considering this for a second I start to smile.

She sighs and moves to wrap her arms around my neck "Are we ok?" she asks, looking a little worried

"We're great" I say then press my lips to hers. She pulls back and smirks. "What?" I ask.

"Nothing just if you think last night was out there... you're kind of a prude" she laughs and my jaw falls open.

"I am not a prude!" I protest and she giggles "I'll show you" I tell her then put her over my shoulder.


	16. Chapter 16

ChapterSixteen

Thanksgiving was days away and I was starting get nervous about taking Adrian to the pack dinner, she still didn't know my secret and I was worried someone would do something decidedly un-human and freak her out. having said that it might turn out to be the perfect time to tell her the truth. I'd left it so long it was getting ridiculous; I really needed to grow a pair and just do it already.

I was helping my Mom bring groceries in from the car when my phone rang; I looked at the readout and smiled when I saw it was Adrian. I hit the green button and held the phone to my ear.

"Good morning Angel, I missed you last night" I tell her, I had patrol last night. That was another reason I needed to tell Adrian my secret soon I was running out of excuses to feed her when I had a late night patrol, that and I hated lying to her. The most recent lies had been, I had the dentist early the next morning, I had to help Willow with her homework and Shila and I were having a guy's night.

"Did you and Shila have a good time last night?" she asks and I grimace.

"Yeah it was fun, would have preferred to spend the night with you though"

"Why am I a better screw?" she jokes and I roll my eyes

"Very funny"

"Listen what are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing why" I ask

"You sure you're not having another sleepover" she says and I laugh

"It wasn't a sleepover" I tell her laughing and I can just picture her smirking.

"Ok, ok whatever you say. So about tonight?"

"Yeah whatever you wanna do Angel"

"I'm playing at a bar with the band in Seattle" she blurts out and I don't even know what to say for a second.

"Erm... that's great..."

"Will you come see us play?" she asks and I smile

"Yeah of course" I agree.

I was starting to feel a little apprehensive about the whole 'my girlfriends in a rock band with three other dudes' thing. The first time I'd seen her play had been the night I imprinted on her, and I wasn't sure how I would take seeing her like that again. I had a feeling it would make me insanely jealous to have men in the crowd cat calling and wolf whistling.

I order another whisky from the bar and run my fingers through my hair feeling nervous. Adrian and the band were already backstage getting ready to go on. They were head lining so when the all female metal band that were currently murdering a Deftones song right now were done she'd be on.

The whole ride to Seattle Adrian was so excited running through lyrics and cords, and asking my opinion on song choices. She'd turned to me and sighed then said "Sorry I kept this a secret from you" when I asked her why she had she told me at first she didn't think it would happen and then she was too nervous to tell me. She told me she felt like she was just clinging on to an old dream because she was supposed to be retired. I'd laughed and told as long as she loved to perform it would never be a forgotten dream. That seemed to cheer her up.

The room suddenly erupted into cheers and applause and I span around on my stool. The metal girl band had left the stage without me even noticing and Adrian and the rest of 'Third rib and up' were on stage setting up their instruments. Adrian looks really great, she's wearing a pair of black skin tight jeans a strapless black top that made her boobs look huge and amazing and a pair of leopard print stilettos that showed off her paw print tattoo and had me picturing her wearing only those.

I knew what the first song would be before the drummer even brought them in, Adrian had told me she wanted me to pick which track she would open with, I'd chosen 'Next Girl', by the Black Keys. Adrian had once told me how much the base line for this track turns her on, I was now very much regretting my choice. _"A beautiful face, and a wicked way, and I'm paying for her beautiful face, every day. All that work, over so much time, if I think too hard I might loose my mind" _Adrian sings it beautifully even if the lyrics are meant to be from a man, she nails it.

'Third rib and up' are halfway through an original number when a girl in a very low cut dress takes the stool next to me. "Hi" she says taking one of her curls and twisting it around her finger.

"Hey" I nod a polite hello then turn my attention back to Adrian.

_"I like it when we talk about love, I like it when you talk about love, you always were my favourite drug, even when we used to take drugs, Even when we used to take!"_

"The bands pretty good right" the girls asks but for some reason it doesn't feel like she means it. she leans a little closer to me, too close. I shift uncomfortably and lean away a bit.

"Yeah they're great" I agree and take another sip of my drink. The girl seemed oddly familiar, I was at the crocodile cafe maybe she was famous for something? I shrugged it off and took another sip of my drink.

"My names Nancy, what's yours?" she asks and I sigh, I really didn't want to be rude but I really just wanted to tell this chick to back off.

"It's Riddoc, Look Nancy you seem like a really nice girl but..."

"I'm in a band you know? Lead vocalist as if you couldn't tell though right" she laughs and flashes me what I'm sure is her winning smile.

"That's... good for you but..."

"I'm in 'Kittytastrope' you probably saw me up there" she says gesturing at the stage "you know all that screaming I have to do makes me really thirsty" she says leaning forward and puts her hand on my thigh.

I jumped back from her hand and out of my stool as if she'd physically burnt me. I wasn't an idiot I knew when a girl was putting the moves on me I'd been there enough times . but this was the first time I'd been hit on since I was with Adrian and I don't think I'm taking it very well. I turn to Nancy to tell I have a girlfriend and she should just stop making a fool of herself now just in time to catch her making a show of un-crossing then re-crossing her legs. I don't look away fast enough and unfortunately get enough of glimpse to know this girl isn't wearing any panties. "I could really do with a drink" she tells me in what I assume is supposed to be a seductive purr.

"Here" I say trusting what's left of my whisky into her hands, she frowns and looks a little confused then I duck and weave my way through the crowd and away from her as fast as I can. I find an empty table in the corner with a good view of the stage and settle in to watch the rest of Adrian's performance.

My favourite part of the performance is when 'third rib and up' finish off with an acoustic version of 'only girl in the word'. They slow the song right down and Adrian takes an Spanish guitar and plays along with the band, usually on stage she's too busy dancing and strutting about the place to have an instrument but seeing her perform like this was great, I loved the fact she was watching me the whole time she sang.

When the set was over it didn't take long for Adrian to find me. Unfortunately she wasn't the one who found me first. Nancy, the girl from the bar slid over to me and leaned against the table I was sat at her bare thigh brushing against mine. "Hey I thought you'd run away" Nancy says and I grumble.

"I did" I tell her but she just laughs as if I've told the funniest joke. The next thing I know Adrian dives into my lap and her lips crush against mine, I grab her either side of her face and kiss back with an equal amount of heat. Adrian pulls away tugging on my bottom lip slightly and causing a growl to build in my throat. She looks over her shoulder at the other girl and smirks.

"You can go now Nancy" Adrian tells her and Nancy's expression turns positively murderous.

"Adrian?" she sneers and I start to wonder how these two now each other.

"Your girls were great" Adrian says referring to the all girl metal band that had gone on before 'third rib and up' "Thanks for keeping our fans warm" Adrian says and I try not to smirk. My Angel knew exactly how to handle bitches like Nancy and her tongue was sharp like a whip when it needed to be.

"Whatever Adrian, just because you've got a hot guy on your arm and a headlining band doesn't mean you're still not just a washed up old has been" Nancy spat and I felt Adrian still. I knew that comment had hurt her I could feel it, it was one of Adrian's worst thoughts about herself and it had just been thrown in her face. Adrian moved suddenly turning on my lap and practically lunging at Nancy.

"You wanna come and say that to my face you little slut!" Adrian screams and reaches out to grab a handful of Nancy.


	17. Chapter 17

ChapterSeventeen

I quickly haul Adrian back and Nancy screams out quickly scurrying away from an extremely pissed off looking Adrian. Another pair of hands grab Adrian's shoulders and dip down to look her in the eyes. I look up and see who I think is her drummer. "Whoa girl take it easy" he says "what happened?" he asks looking at me

"Nothing I'm fine" Adrian answers him before I can say anything "Good to know Nancy Reagan's still a bitch"

"Always has been, always will be" the drummer laughs, he looks at me again and sticks his hand out for me to shake "You must be Riddoc?"

"That's me" I nod

"Oh right I'm sorry" Adrian says shaking her head "Riddoc this is our drummer Ethan, Ethan this is my boyfriend" she says smiling the last part.

"Nice to meet ya" he smiles a big toothy smile "listen I gotta get home before my wife kills me for staying out any later" he laughs "The guys wanna know if you two are heading to Bad Ju Ju's" he asks. At the time I didn't know what the hell a bad Ju Ju was, I later found out it was a club. Adrian looks to me and I shrug, I'd go if she wanted to.

"No, I think maybe we'll just head to our hotel" Adrian says smirking at me and I can't help but grin right back, that's definitely an idea I can get on board with. "Say bye to the guys for me!" Adrian says then hops off of my knee. She picks my drink up off the table and downs what's left of it then grabs my hand, next thing I know she's hauling me up and out of my seat.

"I guess I'll see you guys later then!" Ethan laughs and waves us out of the bar.

"Adrian slow down" I say picking up the pace to keep up with her

"No time for that" she says and in seconds we're outside and she's hailing a cab.

The cab pulls up and Adrian pulls me in after her, she reels off the hotels address to the driver then all but pulls me on top of her, her hands knot through my hair and she arches her back to press against me. I'm not sure what got my girlfriend so wound up like this but I do not care.

The cab journey to the hotel is short and before long I'm pressing Adrian against the wall of an elevator as we travel up to our floor. One of her legs hooks itself around my hip and pulls me against her more; I feel a growl rumbling out of me. "Do you have any idea what you do to me?" I groan pressing my lips to her neck. She giggles and smoothes her hands over my chest. She gasps when I wrap my hand over the edge of her top and pull it down half an inch.

"Riddoc we're in an elevator" she laughs and I pull her top down a little bit more so it's revealing her strapless bar.

"And?" I ask

"And it probably has CCTV" she tells me pulling me closer so I'm covering her body with mine

"Sounds very rock n roll to me" I tell her kissing down her chest until I reach the swell of her breast and she bursts out laughing "isn't this the type of behaviour I should expect from my rock star girlfriend?" I ask, I gave her bottom a squeeze and she yelps making me grin.

"You're using the word 'star' very loosely" she rolls her eyes

"Shut up" I laugh and kiss her.

"Well if you want to do it like rock stars lets do it in the Jacuzzi then throw a TV off of the balcony" she smirks, I shake my head at her then kiss her, letting my tongue lick along her bottom lip and making her moan.

When the elevator dings to a stop I let Adrian's leg fall from around me and sweep my hand around the back of her knees to pick her up. She squeals for a second then her lips are on mine again. I practically collapsed against our door trying to fish the key card out of my wallet, the door flung open and I could feel Adrian grinning into our kiss.

I had her on the mattress and was undressing her in seconds, she worked my shirt off over my head and once I had her completely naked I climbed off of the bed and grabbed her ankles pulling her down to the foot. I kneel down in between her thighs and she gasps and closes her legs trying to cover herself. I smile and shake my head at her, my girl was beautiful everywhere and there wasn't a single inch of her that I didn't love to see, feel or taste. "What are you doing?" she asks and she sounds a little nervous.

"I really love these shoes" I tell her and pick them up off of the floor. Adrian props herself up to look at me and cocks an eyebrow.

"Riddoc?" she says questioningly. I don't answer, I cup her calve lifting her leg slightly and slip the shoe back onto her foot. Then I do the other, I wouldn't have taken them off at all if her jeans hadn't been so tight. I stood up on my knees a little straighter and spread her legs, I push two fingers inside her and she moans bucking up off of the bed and gasping my name. I replaced my fingers with my tongue because I knew she loved that.

After a few minuets I pulled away leaving Adrian whimpering and told her to stand up for me, she looked at me puzzled for a second but did as I asked without question. I sat on the bed where she had just been. I looked my Angel over, gorgeous. "You're so sexy baby" I tell her and a small smile grows on those oh so kissable lips.

"Sure it's not just the shoes?" she asks with a smirk, I let my eyes travel down to the shoes then back up to see Adrian biting her lip. My dick got harder and I broke, couldn't wait anymore no matter how much I liked to look, I had to touch.

I pulled her over to straddle my lap and dipped my head to take her breast into my mouth. I ran my tongue in a circle around her already stiff nipple, then sucked and kissed; I ran my tongue over her nipple again and again in a rubbing motion whilst giving the other a slight pinch.

She moaned loudly pushing her hips down against my erection. "Oh Riddoc please?" she begs starting to move her hips faster. I could feel the head running along her entrance with every writhe of her body driving me insane. Just one slight thrust and I'd be inside her, and God did I want to be inside her. But from the way she was moaning and whimpering I really wanted to see if I could make her come like this. "Riddoc? Now? Please" she pants, she digs her finger nails into my back, moans even louder than before and I have my answer. I thrust upwards and she cried out in pleasure.

"Hey Mom, We're here!" I called as I pushed the door open, Adrian followed me in her hand clasped in mine and her other hand carrying a jar of cranberries we got from the farmers market on the way home.

"Hey Sweetie how was Seattle!" My Mom shouts from the kitchen, I look at Adrian and he both grin like a pair of idiots. after the gig we didn't leave the hotel room and weather Adrian had been joking or not we did end up in the Jacuzzi, we didn't do the TV thing though.

"Yeah it was great" I tell her as Adrian and I round the corner into a very hectic kitchen. Mom was mashing potatoes, Leah was at the sink running the taps, Willow was piping cream onto something, Emily was chopping and Claire was being very helpful stood next to Leah with a glass of red wine.

"I got the cranberries Ness" Adrian says wading past me into the kitchen.

"Oh thank you Adrian you're a live saver, it completely slipped my mind" Mom says

"It's ok, looks like you have lot going on" Adrian laughs and my Mom smiles

"You can say that again" Mom chuckles and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear before continuing to furiously mash

"Can I help?" Adrian asks

"You can help me honey!" Claire sings, she passes Adrian an empty wine glass "Red or White?" she asks and Adrian laughs.

"Duck? The guys are out back playing football leave the women to the kitchen" Kim says walking in behind me and patting me on the back. I smile as I watch Adrian interact with Claire and the other imprints then decide to take Kim's advice and head out to the back yard.

Out in the yard Shila and his imprint Lucinda were sat practically wrapped around each other watching the others play. I say play it was more like my Dad, Seth and Embry give the younger wolves an ass kicking. Every five seconds one of them would hit the ground with a massive thud, or get knocked off their feet into one of my Mom's rose bushes, I could see that Miles already had a bloody nose.

"Duck!" a small voice squealed, I looked around to see Megan running at me with a fistful of daises, she launched herself at me and I caught her easily balancing her on my hip. She hugged herself into my neck and I smiled, I took pride in being her favourite uncle.

I looked around at my family and I was happy, I liked the way my life was turning out, actually I loved it. It was the best thanksgiving I'd had and I knew that was down to Adrian she made everything better in my eyes, she was perfect. And that's why I couldn't bring myself to tell her about me, I got her alone after dinner and timed it perfectly. But when I opened my mouth the words just didn't come out. Everything was going so great at the moment and I just couldn't bring myself to spoil it.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Two months later things between me and Adrian couldn't be better she's still perfect and I've learnt to control my wolf completely with her now and the sex is incredible. We haven't had to deal with that ass hat Leo again and although that also means little Marina hasn't been able to visit we've been happy. We spend every minuet together and I finally made the decision to tell her my secret I'm going to do it at a bonfire on the beach this weekend, Dad is going to tell her the legends of the tribe then I'm gonna pull her off to one side and show her just how true the legends really are. I should have done it at thanksgiving, I knew that, but it was a new year and I wouldn't let myself chicken out this time.

Everything was going according to plan until Adrian bounded over to me excitedly with a massive grin on her face when I let myself into the surf shack one night. "Oh my God Riddoc!" she squealed running over and jumping into my waiting arms. "I have the most exciting news" she says. Whatever it was was making my imprint happy so of course I was happy too.

"Really what?" I ask and she slides down my chest and back onto her own two feet.

"'Third rib and up' have been entered in this battle of the bands competition, Dax got us the gig isn't that great?" she smiles widely. I was really happy for her it was such a shame that her band didn't get to play much anymore, Adrian was so talented and she loved singing and making music so much.

"That's great when does the competition start?" I ask

"A couple of days actually, it was sort of a last minuet thing but the guys are really excited to do it and I am too, after the gig at the Crocodile cafe I think we all really wanted to play again you know? And anyway the prize money's really great"

"I'm really happy for you Adrian that's great, what's the prize?"

"First place is two thousand pounds" she tells me and I draw a blank, pounds?

"Wait pounds?" I frown

"Yeah, the competition is in England" she says with a shrug "Did I not mention that?"

"No!" I yell suddenly very panicked

"Riddoc?" she sighs

"And you've already decided you're going?" I ask

"Well I'm the front man they kind of need me" she laughs

"Yeah but England? It's so far away" I mutter

"It'll be fine, I'll be back before you know it" she says then stands up on her tip toes to kiss me.

The competition ran for eight nights that didn't sound too bad it wasn't until Adrian later explained it was eight Fridays that roughly meant eight weeks, two months. I wasn't sure how or even if I could last that kind of time without my imprint. But Adrian was so exited to be back with the band; she kept saying how it would feel like being on tour again like in the good old days when they were young and all that mattered was the music. She had her heart set on going and ultimately I didn't have the heart to ask her to stay.

I took her to the airport where she introduced me to the rest of the band considering I'd only met Ethan very briefly. But the other two seemed like good honest guys which was a relief to say the least, I guess I'd built them up in my head to be these crazy hard core rockers that were going to get my girlfriend in to all kinds of trouble. They were her oldest friends though and I had to just bite my tongue and trust her on this one.

Ethan patted me on the back and told me not to worry because he'd keep an eye on her for me, but it wasn't the drummer I was worried about it was her bassist. I really didn't relish the thought of her living in a caravan for two months with her ex boyfriend. His name was Dax when he saw me and Adrian approaching he'd ran over and picked her up swinging her around telling her how much they all missed her he was also the idiot that had set up this gig in England if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be about to loose my imprint for eight weeks.

He extended his hand to me and introduced himself "Hi I'm Dax you must Riddoc? Sorry we didn't get to meet in Seattle" he says I smile politely and shake his hand; I don't feel the tiniest bit bad when his face turns red under the force of my hand. He pulls his hand away and shakes it out into the air "Quite a hand shake" he laughs.

The woman on the speaker calls their flight number and Adrian looks at me with a sad expression, I try my best to smile at her but I know she can tell it's forced she moves straight into my arms and I hug her as tight as her little human body can take. I stroke her hair and when I feel the shoulder of my t-shirt starting to grow wet I know she must be crying. "Hey it's gonna be ok?" I tell her "Like you said you'll be back before we know it"

"I just... I'll miss you" she says trying to catch her breath

"I'll miss you too, so much" I tell her

"Riddoc I love you" she whispers

"I love you more Angel" I say and she giggles then presses her lips against mine, she kisses me as if her life depends upon it until her band mates start whistling and teasing her from the departure gate.

"Hey Aid! Get that tongue out of his mouth it needs to be well rested when we get to our gig!" Ethan the drummer shouts and the other two start laughing

"Yeah put her down this is a family place!" Dane the guitarist calls still laughing, Adrian pulls away and laughs she glares at her band mates and flips them off, they just laugh harder.

"How the hell am I gonna survive with those dick sticks for two months?" she sighs and I laugh at her insult for them, I'd have to remember that one.

"I imagine with great difficulty" I smile "I don't want you to go but if you don't you'll miss your flight" I remind her and she pokes out her bottom lip in a sulk I laugh and kiss it "I love you"

"You too" she tells me then with one last kiss she takes her carry on bag from next to our feet and walks away she reaches the gate she gives me a sad wave and blows me a kiss, and I know I won't see her again for two months. It's going to be hell.

Much to the annoyance of the rest of the pack I spent the next couple of days moping around, sulking and generally dragging my paws. The imprinted wolves understood how I was feeling and gave me a break about the whole thing but the others just got increasingly more pissed off with me, I guess they just don't get it.

Collin was the worst though he was older than me but he acted like a little kid, I swear he just never grew up, some how phasing so young didn't just put a stop to his aging it put a stop to his maturing as well. I couldn't wait for him to find his imprint already maybe that would stop him behaving like such a dick all the time. The dude was in for a shock, girls hate ass holes so he'd really have to turn over a new leaf if he wanted his imprint to stick around. But as of yet he's yet to meet her, and apparently he's quite content with bedding every girl on the reservation instead.

A whole two months I wasn't sure if I'd be able to last that long I'd already contemplated a hundred different ways to either go and get Adrian or get her back here before then, I was losing my mind. Sure she called me most nights but when she did it was always morning there and she would be tired or hung over or just still half asleep so we never got to talk for long.

I was counting down the days till she got home like a little kid counted down the days till Christmas.

Six weeks she'd been gone and two more until she would be home and back where she belonged in my arms. Saturday night I got a phone call from Adrian. "Hey Angel" I say into the phone.

"Hey how are you?" she asks

"I'm fine I miss you like crazy though" I tell her and she giggles

"I miss you too, and I miss La Push I've never felt this homesick in my life" She says

"Only two more weeks and you'll be back" I remind her

"Yeah I know, wanna hear something silly?" she asks and I laugh

"Always"

"I've sort of been checking off the days on my calendar" she tells me and I smile

"Me too"

"Really?"

"Of Course. I can't wait to have you back I feel like I'm dieing over here" I tell her honestly

"Oh so this is normal then to miss you this badly, to wanna hop on a plane every minuet of every day because I'm not with you?" she asks and I smile, who knew she would feel the imprint this strongly.

"I don't know about normal, but I know I feel the same way"

"Oh Riddoc I wanna come home" she sighs

"Ok great I'll meet you at the gate" I tell her and she laughs

"You're supposed to tell me to rough it out and that I'm big girl and I can handle this" she says

"Why would I do that? That means I won't see you for another two weeks? If I convince you to get on a plane I get to see you in twenty four hours" I say and she sighs

"You're the devil" she tells me

"Why am I corrupting you angel?" I laugh and she giggles

"Hey in other news we got through to the next stage of the competition" she tells me

"There was never any doubt that you wouldn't" I tell her and I feel her smiling

"Thanks"

"You're tired?"

"No! Keep talking to me?" she says

"Ok I'm not going anywhere" I tell her

"Tell me about what's happening? How's Misty coping at the surf shack?"

"It's surviving with out you, just" I laugh

"I'm sure she's doing fine, you're just trying to make me come home" she says and I laugh

"You know me too well. Adrian?"

"Yeah?"

"When you get home I don't want us to be apart anymore, I mean like I wanna see you everyday"

"Well we pretty much do, what is it you're saying?"

"I'm asking you to live with me?" I say

"You wanna move in with me?"

"No I want us to get our own place, together" I tell her and the line goes quiet for a moment. "I understand if you have to think about it, I guess it's a pretty big deal"

"No"

"Oh ok then I..."

"NO I mean I don't want to think about it" she says "You can move in with me or somewhere new that's just ours, we'll talk about it more when I get home right?" she asks and I smile

"Yeah?" I say. i climb onto my bed and relax against the pillows, eventually we're both too tired to keep the conversation up and before long she's falling asleep on me. I chuckle to myself and listen to her sleep for a moment, then I wish my angel sweet dreams and hang up.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Six more days that was all I had to wait, it didn't feel like long anymore, mostly because I was nervous. Ever since she'd agreed to live with me I'd been setting plans into motion I'd bought a run down old fishing cabin by the lake and I'd been refurbishing it ever since. Shila and Brady had helped me a lot and now I'd let my Mom and Willow loose on the inside to decorate and furnish it. I still wasn't sure if that was a mistake, what if Adrian didn't like it.

On the phone the night I'd asked her she'd said yes but she'd also said we could talk about it when she got home. What if I'd made too many assumptions by doing all of this? What if it scared her?

When she got home I was planning to take her to one side and tell her everything then if she could handle it I'd phase and show her the other me. and then if she took all of that well, I was gonna take her to our new home and ask her to move in with me. I still wasn't sure how she would take it, I knew she wouldn't be afraid of me I was more worried she'd be mad at me for lying to her all this time after all we'd been dating for eight months now, I'm pretty sure that's the longest any wolf has ever waited to tell an imprint his secret. Seth had only lasted about three weeks before he told Misty everything, I hadn't been there but she's apparently pissed her pants when Seth phased in front of her them promptly passed out. Shila's imprint Lucinda was one of the wolf kids so she was ready for it, the only surprise for her was that one of the pack had imprinted on her. So there was no telling how Adrian would react, every imprint was different.

I was at the cabin painting the exterior, I'd chosen red just like Grandpa Billy's house used to be, I hoped Adrian would like it. Something tickled my nose, I set the paint brush down and sniffed, there was a faint trace of something sickly sweet on the air, a shudder ran up my spine and I knew, Vampire. I phased swiftly and tested the air again, north, a while from here. if the wind hadn't been blowing in my direction I wouldn't have been able to pick his scent up. I phased, Shila and Seth were phased already and I could feel them watching my thoughts.

_Seth: Go Duck, we're coming_

_Me: better alert my Dad too_

_Seth: Shila's already on it. _

I ran like hell in the direction of the Vampire the only thing on mind was killing it. Maybe because this was the first Vampire I'd come across since I imprinted was why I felt so desperate to catch it. I'd never been so angry about a vampire coming near our land before and I'd never wanted to fight this much either. I looked to Seth and he was feeling the same way this was his first fight with a vampire since imprinting too. I found myself thankful for the first time ever that Adrian was out of the country. She was safe this vampire couldn't touch her.

The scent grew stronger and my suspicions were confirmed male, Seth caught up to me and together we pressed on trailing the vampire, he'd obviously caught onto our scent and took off in the opposite direction. We chased the vampire all the way to the Canadian border before Dad phased and called us off, we couldn't defend out there it wasn't our land, it would only bring the Voltori down on our heads. And we sure as hell didn't want them finding out about Willow's gifts.

Dad and the rest of the pack were waiting for Seth and I at home when we got back. We both phased and dressed in clothes that had been left out for us before going inside to be debriefed.

"It's probably just a nomad that wandered to close to our territory" Dad tells us after a half hour of lengthy debate "But we'll double patrols and make sure he doesn't come back" he says, some of the younger wolves like Kai and Trey groan at that but Dad ignores them. "Brady? Miles? You two are on Patrol tonight pay special attention to the Canadian border"

"Do you think we need to give the Cullen's a heads up?" Seth asks

"Might not be a bad idea, you up for it?" Dad asks Seth and Seth nods before jogging out of the house. After that the pack started to file out. I turned to my Dad.

"Do you really think it's just a nomad? He picked up our scent really fast" I say

"And?" Dad asks

"Couldn't it be one of the Voltori? They've come to check on Mom before and they were doubly interested when they found out she'd had me and Willow"

"No Alice would have seen it. Don't worry Riddoc I'm sure it's nothing to worry about and if it turns out to be something serious we'll be ready" he tells me and pats me on the shoulder.

"Yeah you're right, sorry Dad"

"You're being cautious and exploring all of the possibilities there's nothing wrong with that" he says and smiles at me. "You'll make a good Alpha someday"

"Don't say that" I laugh

"Why not?" he asks me

"Because that means you won't be in the pack anymore" I say and he laughs

"I'll still be around; I'll have to keep phasing if I want to keep up with your mother" he says and we both laugh.

A couple of days later we'd been patrolling like crazy and we were all exhausted, it had been two nights of hell and the rain hadn't helped, I was still in bed it was still early and barley light out when my phone vibrated angrily against my nightstand, I groaned and rolled over to get it, I just knew it was gonna be one of the guys trying to swap a patrol with me or get me to cover one for them. I hit the green button and pressed it to my ear. "What?" I said angrily.

"Good morning to you too babe" Adrian laughed

"Adrian? Shit I'm sorry I didn't even look at the read out" I tell her

"It's ok did I wake you?" she asks

"Yeah but I don't mind" I say

"Are you sure I can let you go back to bed?" she asks

"No I'm awake now" I tell her

"So guess what?" she says

"What?" I yawn

"We didn't win the competition, some Indie boy band from Torquay won" she tells me

"What's a Tour key?" I ask and she laughs

"It's a town in Devon" she says "You know Devon? England? The country I'm in right now?" she laughs "But we did come second so can't complain"

"Second! That great!" I say

"Yeah it's pretty awesome. The guys went out to celebrate but I didn't feel like it I just wanna come home already, with you, in bed" she says with a small giggle

"Oh really?" I ask

"Yep it's been two months Riddoc I could write another album about what I been thinking of doing to you" she tell me and I grin

"Angel after two months I'm afraid you won't get any say, you'll be on your back completely at my mercy for atleast the first twenty-four hours" I tell her and and a small moan escapes her lips only adding to my already swelling cock.

"I like the sound of that, that should keep me going till I can see you again" she says, and I'm instantly more turned on at the thought of her pleasuring herself over me. I let my free hand slip under the duvet and wrap around my length, this is bad I can't do this not while I'm on the phone to her! What am I thinking? But the conversation took sort of an erotic turn and now I'm ridiculously turned on. "Riddoc?" she whispers my name "Tell me?" she asks.

"Tell you what?" I ask, there a pause and I can tell she's nervous

"What you'd do if I was there right now" she says and I hear her swallow hard waiting for my answer, god what wouldn't I do to her if she was here right now? Ok so what did I want to do to her the most?

"Well, we wouldn't be using the bed, atleast not for the first round anyway" I tell her and she giggles

"Oh? Where would we be?" she asks

"Against all four walls of this room, one after the other"

"Mmm we haven't done it like that before" she says

"No we haven't, but I've been thinking about it... a lot" I tell her and she laughs "if you were here I'd undress you and you'd be wearing something nice just for me underneath, lace, a little see through, blue. Baby you look so good blue. Then I'd help you out of your lingerie"

"Then what?"

"Then I'd kiss you, everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I'd work you over with my tongue like you like again and again until you begged me to fuck you" I tell her shocking myself with my own boldness but I feel less embarrassed as her breathing hitches slightly and becomes a little heavier.

"You don't usually have to work very hard to get me to beg" she reminds me and I zone out thinking about her begging my name. We continued on like this for a while, she took over and she was a lot better at this than me and before long I was stroking myself with increasing speed until she whispered down the phone for me to let go and at her words I did.

She sighed in my ear "What is it?" I ask

"It's not the same without you, my body won't react to me the way it does for you" she says. I grin a little in that knowledge.

"Were you touching yourself too?" I ask and when she doesn't answer me straight away I can practically see her blushing. "It's ok, don't be embarrassed there's nothing wrong with it"

"I wanna be home"

"I want you home too; I've got surprise for you when you do"

"Really what is it?" she asks and I laugh

"If I tell you it's not a surprise silly girl" I say and she laughs

"I guess not, I've got a little surprise for you too I hope you like it, I don't want you to be mad at me for getting it" she says. I frown why would I be mad at her?

"Have I ever been mad at you?" I ask

"No" she says quietly.

We talk for a few more hours before she's all but falling asleep on the phone to me, once I know she's fully asleep I say good night and hang up before stumbling towards the shower to clean up the mess she helped me make earlier.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

Just three days to go, God I can barely stand the wait. Having her so far away is killing me but it is starting to feel a little easier I guess it's because I know she's coming home soon.

_Trey: would you quit whining? Its three days Duck she'll be back before you know it. _

_Me: shut up and concentrate you_

_Trey: yeah because you've totally got your priorities straight right now? You can't stop thinking about Adrian_

_Me: hey I'm fully concentrated_

_Trey: yeah that's why you're reliving the phone sex you had with her the other night_

I growl at him and he cowers away

_Shila: easy Duck_

_Me: my thoughts about Adrian are private_

_Shila: then stop being so loud about them_

I huffed, I suppose he has a point, I pushed my errant thoughts of my imprint to a quiet corner of my mind and tried to concentrate on the task at hand.

The vampire Seth and I had chased to Canada had tried to come back onto the Res this morning only to be chased off again by Embry and my Dad. So now we were sitting and waiting for the scumbag to come back but so far he hadn't reared his head. It was raining again, Washington hadn't seen rain so bad for a few decades according to the older wolves, usually I didn't mind the rain too much but sitting in it waiting for something that might not even happen sucked.

Six hours later Dad finally called us home and then he went on patrol with Seth and Kai to relieve us. I was about a mile from home when I caught something, it smelt like gingerbread men, but slight tangy citrus underlying tones and warm vanilla, Adrian. She was here she was home.

I pushed my legs to move faster and sure enough when I reached the drive way her old piece of shit hilux was there, I'd never been so happy to see that old hunk of junk in my life. I could hear them talking. "Oh man it's so good to be back" Adrian sighed and my heart swelled to hear her voice in a way that wasn't through a phone.

"Oh hey Adrian" I hear Leah say. I can hear Willow in the room with them.

"Ok so clearly I missed all the fun while I was away" Adrian laughs

"What do you mean?" Asked Willow

"Well you had sex, and you're pregnant" Adrian says. I grind to a halt and fall on my face in the mud. From what I could hear only Leah and Willow were in the room with her, if Brady had got my baby sister pregnant I'd kill him with my bare hands.

"What! I did not have sex" Willow says

"Oh yeah then what's with your radiant cheeks"

"Well we... but we didn't have sex Brady would never, not unless we were married he's not a got a death wish"

"Yeah Jake and Riddoc would rip him to shreds, and I am not pregnant" Leah says with a laugh

"Oh yes you are I have a sixth sense about these things" Adrian says. By this point I'd picked myself up off of the floor and made it to the front door, I phased onto bare and muddy human feet pulling on some jeans from the basket by the door. I pushed the door open and skidded into the entrance hall leaving a trail of muddy smears and footprints in my wake.

"Angel!" I called out; I hear Adrian gasp and her heart beat picks up. I all but sprint into the kitchen and when I finally lay eyes on her it's like a dream, it's like I've imprinted on her all over again. No words are said I just rush forward and pull her into my arms my lips finding hers and kissing her as if my life depended upon it. When I release her she's gasping for air.

"Why are you wet and muddy?" she asks still out of breath

"I was gardening" I lie, she frowns at me then I kiss her again before she can ask me anything else. When our lips part I dip my knees and pick her up, putting her over my shoulder, she squeals the starts to laugh.

"Riddoc what are you doing you cave man" she giggles, I laugh then cart upstairs much to the amusement of Leah and Willow but I don't care I just want to be alone with my imprint. We have a lot of lost time to make up for.

The plan was to tell her everything the second I saw her but thinking about it, I just got her back, she'd just had a long flight it would be unfair to do it now. And what if she was mad at me or upset it would only spoil everything; no I should definitely give it a day at least.

I set Adrian down on her feet and kissed her. "Missed you" I whisper against her lips and feel her smile.

"I missed you too" she sighs and wraps her arms around my neck.

"You're early" I say and she nods

"Couldn't wait any longer so I took an earlier flight" she tells me and kisses me "Do I get my surprise yet?" she asks and I laugh.

"Do I get mine?"

"You have to undress me for it" she whispers in my ear, I pull back and look at her letting my eyes trail up and down her body.

"Blue?" I ask grinning and she laughs.

"Nope" she shakes her head. I bend and pick her up wrapping her thighs around my waist.

"You first" I tell her and she giggles.

"Erm..." she says and looks down between us. I copy and notice I'm covered in mud up to my knees and elbows and dripping wet. I glance around the room and see mud all over my carpet and a muddy hand print where I pushed the door shut, my Mom was going to kill me.

"Give me one minuet to shower?" I ask and she nods. I dive into the bathroom pulling my clothes off as quickly as I can. I shower in what has to be record time and barrel back into my bedroom pulling on a pair of jean and nothing else. Adrian is just letting herself back into my room, she smiles at me.

"I just went to clean up, you got dirt all over my hands and face" she says wrinkling her nose and we both laugh. the laughter stops as we watch each other with two months worth of pent up desire. Adrian bites her lip then I press her against the wall just like I said I would.

We lie together on my bed afterwards as I trace the new patterns on her back, I chuckle to myself and she moves to look at me. "This is what you were worried about? That I'd be mad about this" I ask touching her newly tattooed skin.

"Well you only have the one I wasn't sure how you'd feel about me getting another one" she said her shoulders moving slightly with a shrug. Whilst she was in England she'd had ivy tattooed on her shoulder blade trailing down into a curve on her ribs. It was beautiful and I loved it.

"Do you like it?" she asks after a while

"I do, it's beautiful, thought it makes me keep picturing you lying naked in the grass" I tell her.

"Really? Well when the weather isn't so dammed awful maybe we could do that" she suggests.

"Yep definitely a good surprise" I tell her then kiss along the tattoo and all the way down to the base of her spine.

"Do I get mine now?" she asks shyly and I laugh.

"Ok, but it does involve getting up, and dressed" I warn her

"Hmm five more minuets then" she says as she rolls onto her back and pulls me on top of her.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty One

An hour later we were both dressed and showered and in my car. I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing, she was supposed to know my secret before I asked her to move in with me but I was so afraid, I'd never been so scared in my whole life. I was scared of losing her of scaring her away. The thought of telling her filled me with so much panic and dread that I wasn't sure if I ever could. Adrian laughed bringing me out of my thoughts. "When you said I had to be dressed I didn't think it meant we'd have to go out" she says and I smile.

"Well it was too big to keep in the house baby" I tell her

"Too big? Wow what is it?" she asks and I laugh

"I told you I'm not telling" I say and laugh when she pouts in a mock sulk. We're coming up on the house now and I'm starting to feel nervous, my hands grip the steering wheel too hard and I shift uncomfortably in my seat, apparently my change in behaviour doesn't go unnoticed by Adrian.

"Riddoc? Are you ok you look nervous?" Adrian says

"I am" I laugh

"Why?" she asks as we pull up to the house

"Because we're here" I say and she looks out of the window, maybe her human eyes couldn't see the little house through the rain splattered window, that or she didn't get that this was her gift.

"And where exactly is here?" she asked smiling. The rain had let off for a minuet but I had no doubt it would be back later. I opened my door to get out and she did the same, I walked around the hood and took Adrian's hand and started leading her towards the house.

"Riddoc who lives here?" she asks

"Well I guess I do" I tell her and she stops walking "And I was sort of hoping you'd want to live here with me?" I say rubbing the back of my neck. She says nothing and just stares at me for a minuet

"You bought this for us?" she asks in a low and quiet voice so quiet if I was human I'd of had to ask her to repeat herself. I nod.

"Didn't look like this two weeks ago though, it needed a lot of work" I tell her and her mouth drops open a little bit.

"Are you serious?" she asks and my heart sinks

"I... I'm sorry I thought..." I start but she puts her index finger over my lips to shush me

"This is the cutest house I've ever seen" she tells me smiling. Then her hand slips into mine

"Cute? What are you talking about it's a very manly man house" I defend and she laughs

"Well aren't you going to give me a tour of our new manly man home?" she asks and my eyes widen.

"Are you saying yes?" I ask

"Yes" she nods and a huge grin spreads unchecked across my face.

I lead her up to the door and fish the key out of my jeans pocket I hand it to her and she smiles before pushing it into the lock.

The front door leads straight into the kitchen, the kitchen had been an add on and clearly an after thought by the previous owner but all the hard work had paid off and it looked like a part of the house now, this room had a gentle slope to the ceiling on one side but not enough to bother me at six foot six. The wall that held the door was glass as was the front door, there was a long narrow island in the middle of the kitchen with bar stools and black granite work surfaces with sparkly bits in. At the other end of the kitchen was a double width arch that leads into the living area. Still holding Adrian's hand I lead her in there. "It's so cosy, it's like a something form a brochure for romantic getaways" she breathed

"Is that a good thing?" I ask

"It's a good thing" she smiles at me. I smile back and lead her over to the fire.

"I know it's not lit right now but it will probably be more romantic when it is" I tell her and she pulls me down to kiss her. The living room is small, two modest sized sofas one on the side the other facing the fire, bookcases built into the wall either side of the stone fireplace and a modest sized TV mounted above that. A big fluffy rug in front of the fire, candles and lanterns ready to be lit scattered about the room and a rocking chair in the corner.

I lead her upstairs next deciding to leave the master bedroom for last, upstairs is the bathroom and closet and a small attic bedroom. I take Adrian into the bedroom first. There's not much to it, I had Mom and Willow leave this room pretty much empty so Adrian and I could decide what to do with it together, but I did ask them to put a bed in it so Marina would have a place to sleep next time she came to stay. There were was white metal bed frame, with butterflies built in to the frame work and fairy lights wrapped around the curtain pole. There was a child sized chair in front of the window with a teddy bear sat on it and jade green comforter on the bed with pearl coloured pillows and cushions, one shaped like a butterfly.

"Riddoc? Why is there a little girls bedroom in here? Are you asking me for something else today too?" she smirks at me. I frown at her for a second completely missing what she's getting at.

"What? No! No, I... it's so Marina can stay here, if I was asking you for a child I'd of put a crib in here not a bed. That and I'd of got down on one knee before now" I tell her and she blushes.

"I was kidding, but it's really sweet of you to think of Marina" she says "What else is upstairs?" she asks breaking the awkward silence.

"Erm... just the bathroom and a closet" I tell her

"Ooh a Closet" she smiles at me then skips out of the room to investigate; I follow after her and find her in the bathroom. The bath tub is in the far corner, sort of a pentagon shape with the point in the corner, sunken slightly in a stone surround with ornate black taps. There's two sinks with the same granite tops as the kitchen in front of a huge mirror and a walk in shower in the other corner. She admires the room for a second before I sweep her back downstairs to show her the master bedroom.

This is probably my favourite room in the house, mostly because when my Mom showed it to me I could see Adrian and me at home here. the room mostly taken up by a huge black iron four poster bed, with dark red bedding on the top, two small nightstands either side and a wardrobe in the corner. There are double glass doors on one wall leading out onto the deck and a semicircle window above the bed head. I just hope she likes it. "This is really beautiful" she says

"You like it?" I ask and she turns and smiles at me.

"Yeah I do" she tells me then kisses me before long I'm on my back while she straddles my hips leaned over me with her tongue flicking against mine.

I push her leather jacket off her shoulders then grab the hem of her jumper pulling it up over her head leaving her in just and spaghetti top and and a pair of tiny denim shorts. She pulls my t-shirt off of me then unbuttons my jeans reaching for the zipper and pulling it down so slowly it makes me crazy. I sit up and her legs wrap around my back making her rub against my painfully hard erection barely contained with in the denim. We both moan loudly at the contact then in a second she's on her back while I relieve her of the rest of her clothes. While I undress her she hooks her toes into the waistband of my jeans and pushes them down an inch. She giggles and I smile at her before just taking them off for her. She looks me over appreciatively and sinks her teeth into her full bottom lip, man I love that.

We kiss for a few minuets then she pushes me back and rolls over onto her front at first I'm not sure what she's doing and then my cock twitches as I realise what she wants. God I've wanted to fuck her like this since the very first time. I lean down and kiss up and down her back. "You are such a naughty girl" I laugh against her skin.

"Mm- hmm" she murmurs in agreement before giggling too. I lift her slightly by the hips and run two fingers along her, I love how wet she is and I love that it's only for me. with one hand pleasuring the place she loves to be touched most and the other keeping her hips raised I press myself against her and she moans loudly, a second later she apparently gets tired of waiting because she reaches between her legs and guides me inside her. Its bliss, it's so tight from this angle, I run my free hand down her back I'm tempted to spank her ass but I don't I'm not sure how she'd take that. I push in and out slowly at first until she's used to the new position I'm still terrified of hurting her there like the first time.

After a while I sit back on my knees taking Adrian with me keeping myself inside her and I dig my fingers into her hips until my knuckles are white I pull my hands away desperate not to hurt her but she grabs my hands the second they leave her and wraps them around her waist as she bobs up and down gaining speed and her moans growing louder and louder.

I move her hair to one side and kiss her neck nipping at it slightly until suddenly I have the over whelming urge to bite her, I sink my teeth in gently not enough to break the skin but enough pressure that she feels it. For half a second she gasps but cuts herself off by moaning my name. I reach up and cup her breasts teasing her nipples between my finger and thumb. "Riddoc this feels so good" she breathes leaning her head back against my shoulder.

"Tell me" I whisper against her neck licking the mark I'd left once.

"You feel so big like this, it's like you're everywhere, filling me..." she trails off into a moan "So good" she pants and in a jolt of arousal I pinch both of her nipples maybe a little too hard. She screams out in pleasure and releases around me, and the look on her face as she comes and the way she moans my name are my undoing and I topple over the edge with her.

We both collapse against the bed, sweating and panting. "That was amazing" I tell her still out of breath.

"Yeah" she pants nodding, her eyes drifting closed. I smile to myself and pull her closer.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter twentyTwo

A few hours later the rain started again and this time it was worse than it had been all week. I could have stayed there with Adrian forever and I think she would have happily stayed with me too. But we had no food there, and Adrian had no clothes with her, her suitcase was at mine in her truck.

After we dressed and showered for the third time that evening for me at least, we headed out to my car. She stops at the car and turns and kisses me. "I love you" she tells me and I do a little dance on the inside, I love hearing that, it's never going to get old. "Have I told you that today? Because I do ok?" she says.

"I love you" I tell her then kiss her, it grows heated until I'm pinning her against the car in the pouring rain but neither of us care. We break away to take a breath and she starts to laugh.

"This is ridiculous we're like a couple of teenagers" she giggles and I smile at her.

"I haven't seen you for two months; I'm getting my fill while I can" I say against her ear then nip at it, she squeals and shoves me away.

"You've had your fill, twice, can you behave for two minuets?" she asks, I pretend to ponder it for a moment then grin at her.

"No" I say then attack her neck with kisses.

"Riddoc! Stop it" she laughs "Come on I'm starving let's get pizza" she says.

She starts walking over to the passenger side door when something sickly sweet hits my nose. I freeze where I'm stood and grab Adrian's elbow so she can't go any further.

"Oh my God you're incorrigible" she laughs turning back to me and moving to kiss me, I put my hands on her shoulders and hold her still. She stops laughing and a flicker of concern spreads. "Riddoc what's wrong?" she asks. I hold my finger up to her lips as I swivel my head scanning the area. I can't see anything yet but I can smell them. I hear a branch break in the distance and I know it wasn't accidental, they're messing with me. I spin in that direction pulling Adrian protectively behind my back. "What's happening?" she asks me and I shush her.

"Quiet" I tell her and she does instantly.

About thirty seconds pass, scanning the tree line and listening carefully when two figures emerge from the forest on the other side of the lake. I quickly reach into my jeans pocket and pull out my car keys, as fast as I can I shove them into Adrian's hand and usher her towards the car.

"Riddoc stop! What is going on? Who are those guys?" she demands catching herself against the roof of the car to stop me from forcing her inside.

"There's no time to explain, just get in the car and go" I tell her but she doesn't move

"I'm not leaving you, Riddoc?"

"I can't protect you like this Adrian you have to leave now"

"Riddoc what's wrong? Tell me I don't understand you're freaking me out"

"I need you to do what I tell you right now, I need you to do exactly as I say and not hesitate, and not question it" I say trying to keep my voice calm for her, she stares at me like i've lost my mind, then her face changes suddenly as if she understands.

"What do you want me to do" she whispers

"Get in the car and drive away from here as fast as you can, don't go home go somewhere crowded, don't go anywhere alone with anybody and don't talk to strangers. As soon as your in a public place call my Dad or Seth or Embry or any of the guys and tell them I need them. You have to trust me" I say, I push her into the car and she clambers into the drivers seat and turns to me with tears in her eyes while she fumbles with the keys.

"I can't I don't want to leave you, just get in with me?" she begs, I couldn't if I didn't hold them off she'd never get away.

"Go! Now!" I bellowed, she flinched away from me and I hated every second of it because I knew it was hurting her. I slammed the door shut on her and as I did the two vampires jumped the lake landing on this side with a dull thud. I see Adrian looking in the rear view, her mouth falls open and I know she'd seen it. She reaches across the car to the passenger door but I reach out and grab the handle before she can crumpling the lock in my hand so when she tries the door it won't open. She looks up at me with wide eyes. "Go" I mouth to her and she finally gets how serious I am. She nods once then starts the car.

I turn and walk towards the two vamps as she drives away. "Aw why did you send the pretty girl away?" one of them asks me and I feel my blood boil.

"We were going to have so much fun with that one" the other says

"You're not going to touch her" I tell them and they laugh. The one on the left zips forward punching me in the chest and sending me flying backwards, I phase and land on four paws. They storm me at once and they're quick, much stronger than any vampires I've ever fought before. One of them slams his knee into my flank and I feel a couple of ribs break. The other grabs me by my neck and flings me across the ground I roll and tumble a few times before I hit a rock bringing me to an abrupt stop. I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head and things start to blur. One of the vampires walks over to me and crouches down by my head.

_Jake: Riddoc! Riddoc? Talk to me are you alright? Riddoc listen to me you have to get up_

_Embry: Jake is he ok?_

_Jake: I don't know! _

My Dad bellows snapping his jaws at him and I feel Embry shy away.

_Jake:_ _Riddoc we're coming. Shila? Stay on Adrian._

_Me: Adrian? _

_Jake: get up Riddoc!_

"I think we lost him brother" one vampire says to the other "I don't think there's anyone in there" he laughs then grabs me by the snout and shakes me. "Are you sure this ones the Alpha?" he asks his brother. I realise I'm not the one they want, they want the Alpha, they want my Dad. I muster all the strength I have left and lunge at the one closest to me catching his head between my jaws and snapping it clean off. I spit it out then look to the other, he looks shocked almost scarred. He glances frantically from me to his dead brother before snarling at me and running.

I phased out only long enough to take the matches from my ankle cord and burn the body before quickly phasing back and hitting the road. I was in so much pain I wasn't sure how I was still conscious I guess I was just running on pure adrenaline.

_Jake: you need to stop now you're gonna hurt yourself_

_Me: I'm fine, just get after that vamp_

_Jake: you're not fine, Riddoc don't make me order you_

_Me: try it, it won't work you know I'm stronger than you_

And then I blocked them all out all I cared about right now was finding Adrian. I'd told her to drive and call my Dad she'd obviously got that far but Dad had told Shila to stay with Adrian what did that even mean? I could have asked but they wouldn't have told me. I ran harder and focused my mind letting only Shila in.

_Shila: duck you're ok._

_Me: where is she? _

_Shila: don't worry about Adrian I think she'll be alright_

_Me: what do mean you think? What happened?_

I turn the corner in the road and that's when I see it, my car upside down in a ditch.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter TwentyThree

I run to the wreck and phase back to human form and inspect the damage, the hood is completely crumbled as if she hit a post or something, there's a perfect hole in the windscreen and blood just above it. I move around to look inside there's blood on the steering wheel too and on the deflated airbag. I run round to the other side trying to find any trace of her but there's none then I see her now broken cell phone on the floor. I bend down to retrieve it and see it's shattered beyond repair what's left of it has clearly been crushed by a hand, you can see the indentations of a palm perfectly. There's a drop of blood leading into the trees and I'm filled with dread, my car didn't wrap around a post it wrapped around a vampire and it's followed her in there. "Adrian!" I scream out but there's no response.

I go to phase to track her but I don't have the strength to and it hurts to even try. The last thing I remember is falling to the floor.

I could hear my Dad calling my name as I came around, I knew I was at home it smelt like home. "Riddoc? Can you hear me?" Dad asks and I force my eyes open. He sighs in relief when my eyes meet his and then my Mom comes into view her eyes bloodshot and teary. The room spins and my head pounds, a sharp pain shoots to the back of my head.

"Are you ok honey?" Mom asks

"I think so" I tell her trying to sit up, there's a hideous snapping sound and a red hot pain shoots everywhere. I lie back down and take a few deep breathes. "Did you get em Dad?" I ask and he smiles.

"Yeah we got him"

"Both of them?" I ask

"You got the other one Riddoc, don't you remember?" my mom asks me.

"No there was another, the one that went after Adrian? The one that totalled my car?" I say and they exchange a look "Hasn't she told you this? She hit a vampire with my car I saw the wreck. Where is she? i though Shila was with her" I ask

"She's upstairs, she's ok" Dad tells me

"She is not ok Jacob" Mom snaps at him, she'd called him Jacob instead of Jake I knew it was bad now "She's scared out of her mind, your father! Ordered the boys not to speak to her so they wouldn't tell her something before you did meanwhile your laying down here unconscious while she's freaking out" Mom says drawing in a deep breath.

"I meant that she wasn't hurt" Dad mumbles quietly receiving a scowl from Mom.

"Where's Willow?" I ask noticing her absence "Is she with Adrian?" I ask

"Not exactly" Mom tells me "she's with Brady"

"Is he hurt?" I ask and they exchange that look again.

"Son?" Dad starts carefully "Brady and Kai caught up with the vamp first they caught up to him out by Floyd Johnson's peak, it got rough and Brady got hit pretty bad"

"Is he alright"

"Riddoc he got hit off the top" Dad explains and I feel my body go cold; Floyd's peak was a precipice of rock at the top of a waterfall, and it was really fucking high. "He's unconscious still, I don't know how bad the damage is yet, Kim just got here"

"Do you think Dr Cameron can help?" I ask

"She's gonna do everything she can Sweetie" Mom tells me.

"I wanna see Adrian now" I say trying to sit up, my Mom grabs one shoulder and my Dad grabs the other pushing me back down to the table.

"No!" they both say in unison

"You have to let your ribs set first I don't want you puncturing another organ" Mom tells me

"Another one?" I ask

"You punctured your lung Riddoc then ran four miles on a broken leg with two broken ribs and the inability to properly breathe, you're lucky your alive" Mom scolds me "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking I love her" I shrug and she rolls her eyes. There's suddenly commotion upstairs. A door slams open then there's running.

"Let go of me!" Adrian screams, there's some more ruckus then I hear Adrian huff it sounds like they're on the stairs. "I'm sorry Shila but you made me do this" she tells him. There's a slight thud closely followed by a bone breaking and Adrian crying out.

"Shit are you ok I told you not to do that" Shila says in a panicked voice.

"You Dick!" she shouts

"Me? you're the one who punched me" Shila complains

"Angel!" I call out to her

"Riddoc!" she shouts back.

"No I'm ordered not to let you in there" Shila says

"Put me down!"

"Shila bring her in please" Dad Finally calls out to them. Shila comes through the door with Adrian under one arm like a football.

"Oh for God's sake Shila put her down" My mom tells him. He doesn't even look to Jake for acknowledgement, Adrian's upright and on her feet in a second. That's the funny thing about my Mom maybe it's because she's the Alpha's wife but the second she tells one of the wolf boys to do something they do it without question even if my Dad had ordered them to do just the opposite.

"Mom? Dad? Could you give us a second?" I ask not taking my eyes off of Adrian. There were purple bruises forming under her eyes probably from the airbag and a large cut on her forehead. Her knees were scrapped and her thigh was bandaged up with what looked like the shredded remains of someone's T-shirt.

Everyone filed out of the room in silence leaving us to our business; we had a lot to discuss. The second the door clicked shut she was across the room and in my arms I bit my lip to try and muffle the grunt of pain but she heard it anyway and pulled away.

"Riddoc I don't understand anything that's happening" she sobs and I brush her hair back from her face.

"I know but I'm going to explain everything ok?" I ask and she nods. "What did you see at the house today?" I ask her.

"Two men, or what I thought were men, but they jumped over the lake like they were on wires or something and you, you crumpled the door handle with your bare hand. They weren't human no one in this house is are they?" she says and I sigh

"That's not true, you are" I say with a small smile but she just glares at me. "We're human at least all but two of us are mostly human anyway"

"Oh good, and which two freaks aren't so much human?" she snaps and I wince at her word choice.

"That would be me and my sister" I tell her and her eyes widen. "Our Father is a shape shifter like the ones in the legends I told you about on our first date. I told you how the magic awakens when our enemies are near? Well the two men you saw at the house they are our enemies and they're not human" I tell her

"Then what are they? Bad shape shifters?" she asks

"No, vampires" I say, she stares at me for a second.

"You've got to be shitting me?" she sighs and I shake my head

"I know it's hard to believe, but you saw the way they moved"

"This is unbelievable. This is jet lag, this is just a horrible horrible nightmare" she says to herself

"No it's not its real and you know it is" I tell her

"Ok if your Dad is a shape shifter or whatever what does that make Ness?" she asks

"My Mom's what we call a vampire hybrid, human mother, Vampire Father"

"Right because that's not a whole new level of messed up"

"It's all very complicated, trust me I had to go over it a thousand times as a child before I finally grasped it, you're not gonna get it in one night. It'll take time, if you're willing to give it. You're not obligated to stay"

"I was just in a car crash, strangled by what I'm now going to guess was a vampire, chased here by two huge wolves and I just found out my boyfriend is a vampire shape shifter hybrid... hybrid! I'm sitting here with you knowing that and you think I want out?" she asks "if I wanted out I wouldn't be anywhere near you" she tells me "Are you alright you look like shit?" she asks and I laugh

"Thanks. And I'm not just your boyfriend for the record"

"What do you mean?" she asks

"Well... you're my imprint" I tell her

"I'm you're what?" she asks narrowing her eyes at me.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty Four

The next morning I found Adrian in the kitchen tossing fruit into the blender. "Morning Angel?" I say carefully then mentally prepared myself for a lashing from that sharp tongue of hers. When I'd finished explaining imprinting to her she was beyond pissed, she'd yelled at me for an hour straight before storming upstairs and locking herself in my bedroom.

"Do you have any honey?" she asks and I frown. Somehow having her act like nothings happened is worse than her being pissed at me.

"Yeah top cupboard" I say. She moves to the cupboard and reaches up for the teddy bear shaped bottle of honey sitting there, when I see she can't quiet reach it I stand behind her and reach up for her. She elbows me in the stomach and shoves me away.

"I can do it" she snaps, then stretches up to the shelf again. I sigh and move her out of the way picking her up by her hips and depositing her to one side "Riddoc I said I can do it"

"I don't care!" I yell bringing my face to hers so they're almost touching; I grab the bottle of honey and slam the cupboard door shut so hard it collapses of its hinges, clattering loudly to the floor next to me. I turn on Adrian again. "You're freaked out, just say it! All of this scares you admit it!" I tell her

"Yes!" she shouts back, I guess she realises she's shouting because she cowers into herself.

"Good" I tell her calming my voice. "Are you afraid of me?" I ask her.

"No" she says. I close the space between us quickly and kiss her forcefully, I walk her into the counter and lean over her, her back arching and pushing her body against me.

"I would never hurt you" I tell her with our lips still touching.

"Because I'm your imprint?" she asks

"Because I love you"

"Yeah again because I'm your imprint" she says

"No Adrian I told you this last night, the imprint doesn't make me love you, it only makes you my priority. It makes me want to protect you. You made me fall in love with you, the only thing the imprint did was speed up what I was all ready starting to feel" I tell her and her mouth twitches up in a smile

"I'm still pissed you kept it from me for eight... no ten months i was out of the country for two" she says

"I know that was dumb" I agree

"Yeah really dumb" she says then kisses me.

"What are you making?" I ask as she returns to the blender.

"Willow still hasn't eaten anything; I figured maybe she'd drink something" she tells me.

"Is Brady any better?" I ask

"Kim said he's fine, his bones are set and healing, she can't figure out why he won't wake up"

"Seth just showed me the whole fight outside, he took a pretty bad fall, I'm sure he'll be awake soon" I tell her and she nods.

"So Brady and Willow are imprints right? That's why everyone's so cool with the age gap?"

"He imprinted on her the day she was born, it happens the first time you make eye contact" I say "Don't pull that face" I tell her taking in her frown "It wasn't a romantic thing for them. Don't think of the imprint as a romantic thing at all it's just a protector thing" I say.

"Who else is imprinted like us?"

"Erm well my Mom and Dad obviously, Kim and Jared, Paul and my Aunt Rachel... basically all the couples you've met at the bonfires and stuff. Sam and Emily, Quill and Claire, Shila's imprinted to Jared's daughter Lucinda oh and Seth and Misty" I tell her.

"I figured as much, does Misty know about all this stuff?" she asks

"Yeah"

"I see"

"You're upset she knew before you?" I ask

"I'm upset everyone seems to know everything before me" she sighs "I'm sorry it just sucks" she says and I have to admit it it stings a bit.

"You wish you weren't my imprint? You wish I hadn't brought all this on you is that it?"

"No of course not, Riddoc I love you this just isn't how I pictured our future, and this whole vampires trying to kill us has really messed with that and that sucks. Please don't take anything I'm saying right now personally ok? I'm just stressed out by this whole thing" she tells me and I nod.

"I know. I get it" I say and she smiles at me. She pops the lid on the blender and and hits the power button "Is there enough for three?" I ask and she grins

"Of course there is" she says and sets out and extra glass.

"What did you mean before?" I ask, Adrian turns to me and frowns, so I elaborate more "before you said this wasn't exactly how you imagined our future?"

"Well it's not, in fact I hadn't pictured the supernatural or paranormal or whatever having much of a role in our future at all" she laughs and divides the smootie out between the three glasses.

"Ok well what did you picture?" I ask, she sighs and turns to look at me.

"You know the regular stuff a girl fantasises about when she's in love" she shrugs and I can't help but smile a little bit "Especially after you took me to the house yesterday"

"What kind of things do you think about?" I ask and she smirks.

"Just stuff?"

"Tell me?"

"Riddoc?"

"Please?" I beg and she sighs again crossing her arms over her chest

"Ok fine, I think about us, our future. I see how amazing you are with Marina and Megan and I think about what it would be like with our kids. I think about how good you'd look in tux and what kind of dress I'd wear if we got married. I think about trading my hilux in for a convertible and you and I taking a road trip in it, I think about getting back with the band and I think about writing an album on my own too" she says taking a sip from one of the glasses then handing me one.

"You've really though about that stuff? Like the marriage and kids part?" I ask my heart feeling like it's about to swell up out of my chest.

"Kind of" she says shyly

"Me too" I admit and she smiles at me

"Really? You've pictured a kid with your baby blues in a Ramone's onsie?" she asks and I laugh

"Well not the onsie, and besides when I picture our kids they look like you not me" I say. She takes my glass off of me and sets it on the side with hers, I'm about to protest because that smoothie was fucking delicious then she's in my arms kissing me.

"I love you" she whispers against my lips and I smile

"I love you too Angel, we can still have everything you just said you know?" I tell her

"You think? Because I'm envisioning a very different future now" she says and slumps against me

"Why? Adrian this doesn't have to change anything, just because I'm not as human as you once thought doesn't have to make any difference to our future, I'm still me" I tell her

"I know but now I'm worrying if you're gonna come home at night, I'm worried every person who asks to be invited into our house is gonna be a vampire. I'm gonna have to worry if our kids are gonna have tails or not" she groans and I laugh

"Adrian our kids won't have tails, if they do get the gene they won't change until they're teenagers and sorry to burst your bubble but you watch too much TV Angel, vampires don't have to be invited in, they can come and go as they please" I tell her.

"Well that's scary" she mutters

"I'd never let them hurt you" I tell her and she hugs herself into me more.

"I know" she whispers and kisses me again.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Five

Adrian sat with Willow for a little while and managed to get her to finish the whole smoothie before she asked Willow if she wanted to play a song to Brady while he slept. Willow broke down into tears at that, flinging herself into Adrian's arms and nodding her agreement. "So what do you wanna play? What would Brady like?" Adrian asks.

"He always loves it when I sing 'Lego House' in the car" Willow says wiping her tears away

"Ok awesome, I know that one, where's Brady's guitar?" Adrian asks

"In the Den" Willow tells her.

A few minuets later Adrian is playing a tune on Brady's Spanish guitar while me, my Mom and Kim peer around the door. Willow starts to sing and her voice is beautiful. I instantly recognise the song; Willow plays it all the time. Like the first time I saw Willow and Adrian singing together, Adrian lets Willow take the lead and only joins in on the chorus to back Willow's voice with her stronger more confident one.

_"And it's dark in a cold December, but I've got you to keep me warm. If you're broken I will mend you and I'll keep you sheltered from the storm that's raging on now I'm out of touch, I'm out of love. I'll pick you up when you're getting down. And out of all these things I've done I think I love you better now" _I glance to my left and see my Mom and Kim in tears holding onto each other when the song ends I'm hugging the two sobbing ladies.

"God you're so talented Willow" Adrian tells her

"Thanks, and thank you for singing with me" Willow says. It's then that I realize my little sister isn't so little anymore. At some point while I was still being the overprotective, over bearing big brother she grew up and I didn't even see it happen.

"Don't' worry about it honey, I love singing with you. Do you think Brady liked it? I hope he didn't mind me using his guitar" Adrian smiles and Willow laughs a little.

"Nah he won't mind. Do you think he can hear us?" she asks

"Sure. You don't think so?" Adrian asks

"I don't know" Willow shrugs

"He's gonna be fine Willow" Adrian tells her "He'll be up and about before you know it and then you can kick his ass for scaring the crap out of you" she says and Willow laughs. God I love my imprint, and I love how great she's being with Willow right now. Nobody else has even been able to get her to stop crying.

"Adrian?" Willow says carefully after a while

"Yeah?"

"Duck didn't mean to lie to you about all this stuff you know, he wanted to tell you so bad but he was terrified of scaring you away. He's an asshole but he loves you more than his life" she says and it's true I do.

"I know, and that's kind of scary and intense" Adrian says quietly "It's just a lot to get your head around"

"I know, but don't give up on him he needs you and weather you like it or not you need him" Willow says and turns back to Brady and I knew what she was thinking about. Adrian puts the guitar down and stands up, she touches Willow's shoulder.

"Can I get you anything?" Adrian asks her

"Another one of those smoothies would be great" Willow smiles.

I follow Adrian into the kitchen and the blender is already whirring away, I spin her around and kiss with everything I have so she knows exactly how much I love her. A second later I've picked her up and sat her on the counter. She pushes me away and switches the blender off then pulls me back to her and kisses me once more.

"Let me take this to Willow then you're taking me upstairs" she tells me, I grin and kiss her one more time before I let her hop down off of the counter.

Adrian and I are halfway up the stairs when I hear my Dad howling out in the forest, I freeze and Adrian looks up at me. "Who is that?" she asks

"My Dad" I tell her

"What does it mean?" she asks and I sigh

"It means I've gotta go"

"Vampire?"

"Hopefully, the sooner we find the other one the sooner life can go back to normal" I tell her and she nods, I pull her up by the chin to look at me and kiss her lips gently.

"Riddoc don't go? Please? You were hurt really badly yesterday, you can't"

"I heal quickly" I shrug and she rolls her eyes.

"Riddoc?"

"I'll be ok" I tell her "Besides if this is the Vamp that went after you yesterday I'm not missing my chance to get a piece of him" I say

"Oh God just be careful" she sighs knowing she's not going to stop me.

"Always Angel" I say, I kiss her once more then bound down the stairs three at a time and out into the rain.

I caught up with the pack a few miles from the house with my speed it didn't take me long to get there.

_Jake: Riddoc what are you doing here, you should be resting?_

_Me: yeah well I'm here now what's going on?_

_Jake: Seth and Embry chased the vamp we've been looking for off the coast_

_Miles: why does he keep coming back anyway? Wasn't killing his friends enough to scare him off_

_Jake: apparently not_

_Me: no it just pissed him off, and now he wants revenge. Who delivered the finishing blow out at Floyd's point?_

_Embry: I did._

_Me: then we can assume me, you and Dad are his main targets, whoever else in the pack he can take out in the mean time are just bonuses_

_Embry: you really think he's after vengeance?_

_Me: what else? Miles is right he should be running scared right now but he's not, we have to assume killing his friends made it personal it's the only logical explanation._

_Miles: alright easy Mr. Spock _

_Jake: Miles! Ok even if Riddoc is right this still changes nothing, only now we know he'll definitely be coming back._

He didn't come back that night or next night but the night after that I shot up in bed to commotion downstairs, my hands flew out for Adrian wondering why she wasn't already in my arms but there was only me in the bed. I'd insisted and all but forced Adrian to practically move in with me at my parent's house until the nameless vampire was dealt with.

I quickly got out of bed, getting my foot caught in the sheets and almost falling on my face in my sleepy state then barrelled though the door and onto the stairs. I could hear my Mom, Adrian and Willow screaming and laughing. Wait... laughing?

I skidded on the polished marble of the entryway and all but flew into the kitchen. My Imprint, my Mother and My Sister were jumping up and down in a group hug, smiling and crying. My eyebrows hit my hairline and my mouth dried out as it hung open while I tried to gather some form of words.

What the hell was going on? "Duck!" Willow squealed happily and ran over to me at vampire speed, she catapulted herself at me and hung off the floor while she hugged me. I hugged her back and walked into the kitchen with my sister dangling from my neck like a baby monkey.

"His face is a picture" Adrian mutters to my Mom and bites her lip to keep from smirking, Mom covers her mouth with her hand to hide a chuckle.

"Did I miss something?" I ask and instantly Willow starts to cry.

"Oh Willow sweetie?" My Mom says and rubs Willow's back

"I know" She sobs "I'm just so happy"

"What the hell is going on down here?" Dad says suddenly from the kitchen door, I turn and see him shuffling in rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"Brady's awake" Mom says, my jaw hits the floor and so does Dad's "Willow came to tell me and I guess we disturbed Adrian" Mom explains

"I was up anyway" Adrian shrugs

"We came downstairs so we wouldn't wake you two but looks like we failed" Mom says with a smile still stroking Willow's hair

"I'm going back up, see if he needs anything" Willow suddenly announces and leaps off of me, she zips out of the room and past our Dad using her vampire speed.

My eyes meet Adrian's and she smiles at me, shaking her head. "I'm never getting used to that" she laughs.

I led Adrian back up the stairs to bed, my hands stretched out behind me holding both of hers. As we reached the top landing I wrapped my arm around her and placed a kiss to her temple. "How come you couldn't sleep?" I ask her once we're in the privacy of my bedroom, not that there was any privacy to be had in this house.

"Who said I couldn't sleep" she brushes the question off

"You said Mom and Willow didn't wake you..."

"You've kind of given me a lot to process lately don't ya think?" she smiles "My brains having trouble shutting off" she says as she climbs back into my bed.

"Ok" I nod "Anything you wanna talk about?"

"No I'm ok, well... do you know him?" she asks

"The Vampire?" I ask and she nods "No, Dad thought he might be connected with the Voltori but Alice doesn't think so"

"Wait" she says then laughs "You're saying a lot names to me... Voltori are like vampire police and Alice is your aunt? Mind reader? No..."

"She can see the future" I tell her

"Right"

"Sorry it's just so much to take in, I bet you're sick of explaining all this shit to me" she laughs and I smile

"Not at all, I'm relieved you finally know and I can be honest with you. And I'm doubly relieve you're not upset about how you found out" I Say

"What do you mean?" she asks and I take a deep breath hoping this won't result in an argument

"Well, I wanted to tell you, have you hear from me not have it dropped on you that your boyfriend bursts out of his skin into a giant wolf then have you crash my car into my mortal enemy, you could have died" i sigh, I didn't want to think about what could have happened that day.

"Sorry about your car" Adrian says and I laugh

"Baby I don't care about the car, cars can be fixed you can't" I tell her, I brush my knuckles over her cheek and she smiles like just a touch could comfort her. "But to answer your earlier question no we don't know who he is" I say realizing I didn't fully answer her.

"What are the chances that he's running and he won't ever come back?" she asks with a hopeful smile. I sigh and settle myself on the mattress so I'm lying next to her.

"Doubtful, sorry Angel. It looks like the other two we killed were part of his coven I don't think he'll let that go easily" I say. She sighs heavily.

"Maybe I should meet the rest of your family, putting faces to names would probably help" she yawns and snuggles into me

"When this is over, we'll take a road trip to Alaska and see everyone, sound good?"

"Sounds great. Riddoc?"

"Yeah?" I ask

"When you were walking up the stairs in front of me before, your back looked really sexy" she whispers, I chuckle and grin. I move much too fast for a human and she screams as I pin her to the bed.

"Is that so?" I say and she giggles.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty Six

"Riddoc you're doing it again!" Adrian says in a sing song voice and I growl under my breath.

"Adrian? Baby? Angel? Please don't do this to me?" I beg and collapse backwards against the bed letting my feet hang off the edge.

"You've had me cooped up here for a week, I can't put this off any longer" she complains and I throw my face into my hands.

"It has not been a week!" I sigh, feeling slightly exasperated, why didn't she get it?

"Close enough!" she snaps back. "I have a business to run Riddoc; I've already been away from it for two months"

"You said Misty did a great job while you were away"

"Yeah she did except Misty's not there right now because Seth won't let her out of his sight either!" she cried sounding frustrated, I knew how she felt I was dangling from my last straw too. That had to be someone besides Adrian and Misty that could run that place. I'd had Adrian hauled up here since the attack and Seth had dragged Misty out of her apartment that night and moved her into the guest bedroom at Embry and Leah's. Adrian comes stomping back out of the bathroom yanking a comb angrily through her hair. "What if this Vampire never comes back? Am I supposed to stay trapped in your parents house forever?"

"Trust me he's coming back" I snap sitting up so I can glare at her, she rolls her eyes at me

"Oh please you don't know that. Besides I'm only gonna go down to the bar for a couple of hours just to make sure the place isn't falling apart and to get the books in order. At some point I actually have to pay the people who work for me you know?" she tells me and I clench my fists.

"It's not the length of time you'll be gone that's the problem, it's the fact you'll be out there without protection that bothers me. I don't care if it's two hours or two minuets it won't even take a second for a Vampire to snap your neck!" I spit wanting to wince at my own words.

"Then come with me, I'm not stopping you!" she shouts back, I grit my teeth.

"You know I can't! I have patrol; I'm the fastest wolf in the pack and probably the only one with a chance of keeping up with this bastard!" I try not to react when I see her roll her eyes at that, she shrugs into a shirt and starts buttoning it shaking her head.

"Well I'm sorry that you don't get it but I'm not gonna stop living my life!"

"No you're the one who doesn't get it! You're being ridiculous!"

"You're being unreasonable""

"You're being irrational!"

"You're being a child!" she shouts, she finally stops dressing and getting ready to leave so she can properly look at me. I sigh and run my hand through my hair.

"Jesus Christ Adrian, You're so fucking stubborn it drives me insane" I exhale

"Did we just have our first real fight?" she asks quietly and I chuckle

"Yeah I think we did" I say. Adrian moves across the room and kneels on the floor between my knees, her hands resting on my thighs.

"I'm sorry, I'll wait. But I'm not staying here like a prisoner forever ok?" she says and I nod

"Ok, I'll get him and you can have your life back I promise" I tell and she sighs. She reaches up and cups my cheeks with her hands and pulls me down so my forehead rests against hers.

"I don't want you to get him, I don't want you anywhere near that monster... sorry" she says catching herself

"No you're right they are monsters, but they're not like my family, my families different" I say

"I know" she nods

"Thank you for not going, maybe I can take you when I get back?" I suggest but she just shakes her head.

"No it'll be late by then"

"It won't be that late, it'll be eight" I say

"I'll go tomorrow, Can you come with me then?" she asks and I try to look positive. I have patrol again tomorrow night at eight I was hoping to sleep most of the morning and well into the afternoon. But it was better than letting my imprint out alone when we had a vengeful vampire running around.

"Sure, we'll see yeah?" I say and she smiles

"Ok" she says and I lean down to kiss her.

"I really have to go though Angel, I'm late" I tell her and she stands up

"Yeah ok" she says. I give her one more kiss then hurry out of the door knowing Shila and Miles will be wondering where the hell I've been.

Patrol was yet again uneventful; this was really starting to piss me off. I was beyond frustrated, who the fuck was this guy and if vengeance was what he wanted why didn't he just come and take it already?

_Shila: Duck? You ok?_

_Me: Yeah I'm just getting tired of waiting for this guy to make his move_

_Shila: I know, it sucks right? Like we're waiting for something that's never gonna happen_

_Me: It'll happen. Shila? Does Luci get pissed at you when you put her on lock down?_

_Shila: well this is the first time I've ever had to so..._

_Me: right, sorry_

_Shila: you and Adrian have a fight or something?_

I briefly flicked through our argument this afternoon for him to see and I felt him sigh, he'd had similar discussions with Lucinda, but that's just it theirs were discussions not arguments. I guess Lucinda was a pack kid she knew the rules and she didn't mind playing by them, even if she didn't like it Jared and Kim would never let her out of their sight anyway.

_Shila: I'm sorry man_

_Me: it's ok, she'll get over it. and with a bit of luck we'll have this Vamp's head before you know it_

_Shila: I hope so, I hate knowing that things been on our land, even that's too close to Luci for my liking. And I hate sugar coating all this bullshit to her, every time Jared's looking right at me and he knows what's really going on._

_Miles: my god you guy this is like listening to daytime TV_

_Shila: then stop listening asshole_

I'd never really considered what a pain in the ass it must be when your girlfriends Dad was a wolf, Jared was retired now but still.

A while later I felt Seth phase, he seemed really pissed off.

_Me: You ok?_

_Seth: why are women so fucking difficult! _

Shila and I exchanged a glance, it looked like this was putting strain on all of our relationships. Seth's memories burst out before he can get a hold of them and we all got a quick glimpse of Seth and Misty's last conversation.

_"why are you so pissed off I went with Leah, she said you'd be ok with it!" Misty shot at Seth and he trembled and balled his fists._

_"You should have waited for me I would have gone for you" Seth said and Misty through he hands in the air._

_"I couldn't wait any longer Seth! You dragged me out of my apartment in nothing but a towel. Do you think I enjoyed being thrown over your shoulder just for my entire neighbourhood to see my bare ass! Because I didn't, I've been wearing Leah's hand me downs for days, I just wanted some of my own stuff!" she yelled._

_Me: dude you didn't even let her pack a bag?_

_Seth: yeah alright whose side are you on?_

_Shila: where you headed?_

_Seth: where do you think I'm headed? To Misty's house, then the florist then back to Leah's to grovel_

_Shila: good luck!_

_Miles: You're gonna need it_

_Seth: shut up_

Seth bolted towards town and Shila, Miles and I continued our run.

I broke through the trees into my parents driveway and for a second I go cold, then the coldness is replaced by fire and rage. Adrian's truck isn't in the drive way.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty Seven

I storm into the house demanding to know where she is and who let her out of the house when I hear her truck rattling up the drive behind me. I stomp back out onto the gravelled courtyard and watch as she climbs out of the truck. She freezes to the spot when she sees me. "Son of a bitch" she hisses under her breath.

"I heard that!" I call to her and she huffs.

"That's right I forgot, you can hear everything" she mutters sarcastically

"I can't believe you went to the Surf Shack, I can't believe you went behind my back like that" I say and she sighs

"Riddoc don't make this a big deal, I'm here I'm in one piece, I was fine just like I told you I would be. Nothing happened, and I'm going to work tomorrow too" she says pushing past me carrying a grocery bag in her arms so she has to slam the Toyota's door shut with her hip. I frown and follow Adrian to the kitchen. "Don't? Please? I really don't want to argue with you" she says

"We wouldn't have to if you did what you were told" I grumble but it's a little too loud and even with her human ears I know she's heard me, she glares at me over her shoulder.

"I'll pretend you didn't go there" she scowls at me for a second then starts unpacking the grocery bag, Wine, Chocolate, Ice cream, wine, toaster waffles, cookies, gummy bears, more wine, wine coolers. God was staying with me driving her to drink or something? "What's with all the booze? Throwing a party I don't know about?" I ask and this time her glare turns into a scowl.

"My period's comming; I like a glass or two when I'm on the red! Is that ok with you?" she snaps, we both look up to see my Dad has just walked into the kitchen; his eyes are wide at the conversation he just over heard. He raises his hands like an innocent man being held at gun point and backs out of the kitchen. I don't blame him, but atleast now I know why Adrian's been so difficult today.

We both stand there in silence for a minuet, neither of us are sure what to say and the situation was made all the more awkward by Dad walking in. I take a deep breath and feel my anger melt away, I guess I need to be a little more understanding; this can't exactly be easy on her either. I reach up to the cupboard behind her and pull out a wine glass. She watches me set the glass on the side and she smiles at me. She sighs and I place my hands on her hips before pulling her against my chest. She stays there for a full ten minuets before she asks me to open the sauvignon blanc. I smile. "What do you say to a hot bath, then ice cream and a movie in bed?" I ask

"I'd say you're the greatest boyfriend ever" she smiles up at me

"Ok then, you choose the movie and I'll go run the bath" I tell her and she smiles evilly at me and i know exactly what she's thinking.

"No" I say shaking my head

"Oh come on?" she says and sticks her bottom lip out

"Angel? We watched that movie like a week ago" I say

"But I love that movie; we could watch the first one? It doesn't have to be number two" she reasons and I sigh.

"Are you really gonna make me watch Terminator two again? I asks and she nods, I throw my head back and groan. I loved that movie too, in fact Arnie movies were like my guilty little secret pleasure but I was starting to wish Adrian was into chick flicks "Baby? When you can quote it word for word you've seen it too many times" I tell her but she just laughs

A week passed since that night and I'm currently patrolling along the Canadian border hoping to pick up a trail on the vampire, but still nothing. It had been two weeks since his first attack when Adrian had found out my secret and Brady had gotten hurt. He was doing a lot better, Kim said he'd be able to run patrols again in another week so that was good, we needed all the help we could get right about now. It was lucky we had Kim since the Cullen's moved away, she was a trained Veterinarian and had taken care of all of us at one time or another.

I'm running quietly along with Collin and Kai when a panicked Trey fills my head.

_Trey: Duck?_

I instantly stop running because of the tone of Trey's thoughts, I can tell something's wrong.

_Me: Trey what's going on?_

_Trey: it's him, he's at the surf shack_

I instantly know he's talking about the vampire we've been looking for, and for a second I'm not sure if I can still breathe

_Me: Trey? Where is Adrian?_

_Trey: she's in there, Seth's here too, but I think Adrian figured it out she must have recognized him from the crash, she started sending people home and closing the bar, once the last of the humans file out... well_

I knew what he was saying once Seth and that Vamp were alone the shit was really gonna hit the fan.

_Trey: you three are the only ones phased_

_Me: we're coming, get back in there and help Seth_

And in the same second myself and my two pack brothers start to rocket in that direction.

I got there first I was a lot faster than the other two, I hit the tree line and tumbled out of the tree line as I tried to get my jeans up. I didn't bother to fasten them properly but the second they were up I was sprinting along the beach towards the pier. I tested the air as soon as I was outside the Surf Shack I could smell Seth and Trey but no Adrian and defiantly no Vampire. I pushed through the doors and the bar was empty everyone had been sent home like Trey said. Seth was laid in a heap on the floor while Trey pressed his ear to his chest. "What happened is he ok?" I ask

"I think so, I'm so sorry Duck I couldn't stop him" Trey says to me and I realize he's crying.

"Trey where are they?" I ask.

"He took her, I couldn't stop him, he has an ability it was like there was an invisible wall or something stopping me from getting close enough"

"Where did they go!" I shout

"I don't know ok! He did this to Seth and when I tried to stop him he throw me against that wall! I lost consciousness for a second and when I woke he was gone and Adrian was too!" he tells me. I growl frustrated and run back out onto the pier, she was my imprint if I put my mind to it I could find her, I'd find her anywhere.

I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind, I could feel her fear, but I could feel anger too. She was nearby otherwise I wouldn't be able to feel her presence like this. I was back among the trees and the second I phased I caught her scent mixed with the stench of a vampire. I followed the trail and both scents grew stronger. I could hear my pack brothers in my head gathering and heading in my direction, but I was blocking their voices out right now, I needed to concentrate on finding Adrian.

Then I heard voices and I knew I was close. "You really shouldn't have done that, don't you know what I am girl? What exactly did you hope to accomplish?" a male voice snaps. I move closer making sure I'm absolutely silent, he'll pick up my scent soon enough anyway but I don't want him alerted to my presence before that.

"Well that move worked pretty well the last time an asshole walked into my bar" Adrian says, she's trying to sound brave but I can hear the tremble in her voice

"Good for you but now all I can smell is whiskey you stupid little girl" he spits as I creep closer. I figured out what Adrian had done to piss him off, she'd broken a bottle of alcohol over him, that's why he reeked of Jim Beam.

I positioned myself so I was low down in the undergrowth about twenty feet behind the Vampire, he had Adrian pinned by the throat against a tree and he was picking bits of glass off of himself with the other hand. I wait a second getting my timing right then I lunge for him. The Vampire holds his hand up and it's like I've bounced off a sheet of glass. He's a shield like my Grandma Bella only his shield is physical how the hell was I going to get through that? "Stop right there Riddoc?" He says and looks over his shoulder to me. "So good of you to join us" my eyes flicker to Adrian's and she's staring at me in shock. I guess even though she knew what I was it's still sort of new for her to see me like this and know that it's me. Also she probably just figured out I was the wolf that night in her back yard. "Do you know what your boyfriend did to me?" he asks Adrian "He killed my youngest son, Jeremy. And then his friends killed my eldest Morgan"

"Your sons attacked them first" Adrian says and I see the vampires hand tighten around her neck, Adrian lets out a winded whiper. He bears his teeth at her then turns back to glare at me, his red eyes flashing with hate. I can feel the pack drawing closer but it doesn't matter, as long as he's shielding himself like this it doesn't make a difference how many wolves are waiting to bite his head off when we can't get close enough to it. I need to figure out a way to make him drop his shield, but how?

"You killed my son Riddoc, you don't have a son for me to take from you, but I figure if you ever did it would be with her wouldn't it?" he says smiling a sick smirk at me, I growl through my teeth at him. "So I guess I'm just going to have to kill her, an eye for an eye and all that" he says. I throw myself against the shield again and again but it's useless. My head throbs, every-thing's spinning and I feel blood running from above my eye from smashing myself into his shield with so much force. I feel like I might be about to see starts, I shake myself trying to get a grip.

I can't believe what I see next, while the vampire laughs at my futile attempt to stop him, Adrian strakes a match on the leg of her jeans and throws it at his face. A book of matches from the surf shack falls from her hand and before it even hits the floor the vamps on fire, I must have mentioned vampires were sort of flammable to her. The vampire screams out, his concentration lapses and the shield drops, Adrian is thrown away from him as I dive at him teeth first.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty Eight

I spit the vamps head out onto his still burning corpse and scan the area for Adrian; I spot her pushing herself onto her knees at the base of a tree maybe forty feet away. I instantly bound in that direction; I phase and start yanking my jeans up my legs the second I reach her. As I pull her into my arms I smell blood, I push her back to get a look at her and gasp when I see blood pouring down the right hand side of her face. I push her bangs gently out of the way and instantly spot a huge red and purple lump on her forehead with a long gash running through it. "Are you ok?" I ask her then curse myself for asking such a dumb question, I can see she isn't.

"I think I'm ok" Adrian nods but she seems a little out of it and she's shivering like crazy. I wrap my arms around her to try and keep her warm and help her stand up, she wobbles slightly but insists she's ok. I'm about to bend to pick her up when she collapses into my arms. I grab her before she hits the floor and at the same time the pack minus Seth and Trey burst through the trees.

Seth was fine, just unconscious and caught up with us not long after Adrian passed out. But Trey was still giving me a wide birth, he knew I was pissed that Adrian had gotten caught up in pack business, I guess he thought I blamed him. We took Adrian back to my parents house and Kim and Jared were there waiting for us, their Daughter Lucinda biting her nails nervously next to them. the second she saw Shila she couldn't get off the porch fast enough, she literally dove at him and wouldn't let go. seeing the other wolves reunite with their imprints like that made my heart hurt, I wanted Adrian awake so I could hold her like that.

Adrian finally comes round about six hours later, after Doctor Cameron gave her the all clear I'd taken her upstairs and tucked her into my bed, I'd sat cross legged on the edge waiting for her to wake up and hadn't taken my eyes off of her since. "Riddoc?" she mumbled sleepily.

"I'm here Angel, you're gonna be ok" I tell her, I scoot up the bed and grab her hand.

"Is it over? Did it work?" she asks and I smile at her

"Yeah, you got him to drop his shield so I could get to him, he's never gonna hurt you or anyone else ever again" I promise her, she smiles for a second then tears spill down her cheeks. I move quickly and swipe them away with my thumbs.

"Riddoc I'm so sorry, I should have listened to you. I just got over confident, I've been sneaking out all week and you didn't notice and nothing happened. I told myself I was safe and I let my guard down I thought nothing would happen I'm so sorry" she sobs and I hug her tightly.

"It's ok" I tell her. I'm pissed she's been sneaking out all week behind my back but I let it go, she's safe and it's over now. That's all that matters.

We never really found out who the vampire was, only that he knew there was a group of shape shifters in the area and wanted to challenge the Alpha. They certainly got more than they signed on for when they messed with the pack that's for sure. It didn't matter anymore they were gone and never coming back. Adrian and my family were safe and that's all I cared about.

Four months later me and Dad are kicked out of the house for a girl party my Mom has decided to throw. It's a joint party to celebrate Misty and Seth's Engagement and Leah's Baby shower, she's got just over a month to go, Embry's about ready to piss his pants he's so excited. Turns out Adrian was right on the moneyLeah was three months pregnant at the time and didn't even know it. Leah just thought she'd gained weight because she wasn't getting as much exercise since she quit phasing.

Adrian and I moved into the house and it was great, she loved it there and I'd never been happier I loved waking up to her every morning. Adrian had been working pretty much non stop on a solo album and she's spent this last week in LA at a recording studio, an old friend of hers had called her up out of the blue and told her he wanted some female vocals on one of the tracks for his new album. She'd done a little dance when she'd hung up the phone then leaped into my arms, she was really excited. She was visiting Marina in San Francisco this afternoon then she'd be back in time for the party tonight, I was desperate to see her a week apart was far too long, it was hard to believe we ever survived two months while she was in England.

I drove up to my parents house where I was supposed to be picking Adrian up, Mom and Leah were whispering about something on the back deck and Adrian was in the kitchen with Willow, Claire and Misty. "Tell us please?" Misty begs and I hear Adrian laugh, it was pretty obvious the girls had all had way too much to drink, Adrian and my sister sounded like the only sober ones in the room.

"No way Riddoc would kill me" Adrian giggles and that stops me in my tracks, Ok now I want to know what they're talking about.

"Can we not discuss this? That's my brother you're talking about" Willow complains

"If you don't like it hun get out of the kitchen I wanna know what all the fuss is about and why the boys are all so jealous of it" Claire laughs and now I definitely know she's been drinking, oh boy, poor Quill. "Adrian just give us a number and we'll drop it"

"I can't believe you guys" Willow huffs

"One day we'll be pestering you for juicy gossip about Brady and then you won't mind so much" Misty points out.

"Yeah well excuse me if I don't want to discuss Riddoc's penis" Willow says and I hear her storm out of the room. My eyebrows hit the roof; I can't believe they're asking Adrian about my junk! The wolf girls were animals.

"So a number?" Misty asks. I couldn't believe my ears, were they rating me out of ten?

"No!" Adrian laughs

"Come on I'll tell you about Seth's" Misty says

"Quill's is about eight, eight and a half" Claire says and I cringe, I so did not want to be hearing this so I pressed on towards the kitchen hoping my arrival would stop the conversation

"Fine if I give you a damn number can we get back to my problem?" Adrian asks, Problem? What problem? What was wrong with my imprint? I stopped again hoping to overhear what was wrong and also a little curious to hear what my imprint would give me out of ten.

"Yes!" Claire and Misty quickly agree.

"I can't believe I'm doing this. If I had to guess I'd say twelve, maybe more I don't know" Adrian says

"Oh my god! More than twelve! How are you not in a wheelchair" Claire gasps

"How can you not be sure it's either twelve or it's over twelve honey" Misty says

"Well it's not like we keep a tape measure on the nightstand" Adrian says and I feel my eyes practically pop out, holy shit they weren't scoring us out of ten they were asking her about the inches, I feel violated.

"Is that when it's fully erect?" Claire asks

"Oh my God, Claire! No more wine for you, you must have known Riddoc since he was a baby I'm so not comfortable with this conversation. Now can we get back to Marina? I need your advice" Adrian asks. I instantly forget the harrowing and embarrassing conversation I just overheard, What was wrong with Marina?

"I think you should go for it" Misty says

"Yeah it sounds like you'd be doing a good thing" Claire agrees

"Yeah but what about Riddoc, I don't think he's gonna take this very well. I mean he's amazing with her but this would be different. It's a huge undertaking and I just... if he's not ok with this where does that leave me?" Adrian sighs and she sounds exhausted.

"Riddoc loves you, he'll stand by you" Claire says. I've still got no idea what's going on but I decide I should walk in there anyway. I round the corner and when Adrian's eyes fall on me her face lights up.

Claire giggles into her wine glass and Misty flushes bright red then in perfect unison their eyes travel to my crotch. I try not to smirk as I walk over to Adrian, I grab her and pull against me my lips finding hers and my hands dropping to her hips and holding hers against mine.

"Hey angel" I whisper and kiss along her cheek to her neck were I nip at it. she sighs and all but melts into me

"Hey" she whispers back

"I missed you like crazy" I tell her and back her against the counter and kiss her completely forgetting there's anyone else in the room until Claire clears her throat. We break apart and I turn to look at the others. "Could you excuse us please?" I ask, Claire and Misty both stare at me open mouthed before they shuffle out of the kitchen.

I pick Adrian up and sit her on the counter, my hands wind their way into her hair and my lips are back on hers, running my tongue along hers until she lets me in then I kiss her in a way I usually reserve for the bedroom.

She's breathless when I let her go and as soon as her head falls back I attack her neck with kisses. At some point Adrian's hand had slipped down the front of my jeans and I'd pulled her top down to kiss her breast, it's then I realise we're behaving very inappropriately in my parents kitchen. "Take me home?" she pants against my lips and I nod. I scoop her up and carry her out of the kitchen, I shout a goodbye knowing atleast Leah and my Mom will have heard me, then put Adrian in the car. It was good to have my car back, the guys had helped me fix it up after the accident and it was as good as new now.

On the drive home we can't keep our hands off each other, I rub small circles on Adrian's bare leg and when I trail my hand up her thigh a little bit she parts her legs for me. I grin to myself, God my girl was so naughty when she wanted to be. I pushed my hand under the tight material of her skirt and pulled her panties to one side. She was deliciously wet like always. I play with her like this for a mile or two until the car is making this horrible grinding sound and I know I need to change gear.

I'm about to apologise and pull away from her when she reaches out and grabs the stick. "Clutch?" she says and without hesitation I step on the clutch, she moves the stick into fifth like a pro and it's honestly the sexiest thing I've ever seen. My Angel operating the gears stick with my hand between her legs and her eyes closed, I almost come in my pants from the sight of her. How the hell I ever got so lucky I will never know.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty Nine

We don't make it out of the car, as soon as I pull up out front and I see her unbuckle her seatbelt I grab her and haul her across the car. She yelps for a second then smiles as I sit her astride me. "You do know there's a perfectly good bed in there?" she asks as she tugs on my bottom lip with her teeth.

"Too far" I tell her and kiss her, she giggles and starts to undo my belt then the snap of my jeans. Adrian reaches down to the side of the seat and pulls the lever, I get the idea and use my feet to push the chair back. She slides down my legs and I gasp when she takes me in her mouth. I've been so horny this week while she was in LA every time I touched myself wishing it was Adrian I imagined those soft lips painted red and wrapped around me. She kisses up and down my shaft running the flat of her tongue along it then sucks gently on the head once and I hiss. "God Angel you gotta stop" I breathe as my head collapses back against the support

"Why?"

"Because I'm not gonna last much longer, it's been a week Babe"

"That's ok, I don't mind" she tells me then slides me into her mouth again until the tip touches the back of her throat and I nearly loose it, her mouth always feels so good.

"Angel please, I want to come inside you?" I groan and she continues for another couple of pumps before she's climbing back into my lap. In seconds I'm finally inside her, exactly where I've been desperate to be since I walked in and saw her stood in the kitchen in that tiny skirt.

I let her do what she wants only raising my hips against hers while she rides me and getting a gasp or a moan out of her every time I do. Adrian reaches behind her back and cups my balls and that's it, I all but scream out my release sparking hers too. I keep thrusting upwards until she calms down and I feel myself soften inside her slightly.

When I let her go inside we make love once more on the bed then again against the wall of the shower, I can never get enough of her. A few hours later Adrian is sat on the rug in front of the fire in a fluffy bath robe. I lean against the door jamb in just my sweats watching her for a second. She looks up and smiles when she sees me there but her eyes look sad. "What are you thinking about?" I ask her and she sighs.

"We need to talk Riddoc" she says gently and I gulp, this isn't gonna be good.

"Ok what about?" I ask her as I move into the living room; I sit myself in the armchair opposite her. Adrian crawls on her knees towards me and sits at my feet with her hands in mine.

"When I was at Marina's today, Leo asked me how I would feel about having Marina on a more permanent basis. He's flying out to Syria in two weeks. His mother normally has her but she's been distant since Leo's Father died" Adrian explains "That and she's going on a three month cruise"

"What does he mean by a more permanent basis? How long will he be in Syria?" I ask

"That's the thing I don't know and neither does he. They gave him a promotion I tried to talk him into staying with Marina I really did" she tells me and I nod

"I know you would have"

"But he said it was too big of an opportunity to miss. I told him yes for the three months while his Mom's away, I hope that's alright?" she says and I nod instantly, of course it is. "But I told him I had to talk to you before agreeing to anything else"

"It's a huge decision Adrian, have you thought about this?" I ask her

"Only the whole way home, I know it's big, I do. Financially it's not a problem, we have the space for her..."

"Adrian? Forget all of that, forget me... what do you want?" I ask

"I want Marina to have the things I never did. I want her to feel like she belongs to a family, like she has a real home, like she's wanted. I don't want her end up like me, I don't want her to be twenty one and it be too late for her Daddy to come home" she says and I brush away her tears with my thumbs.

"don't say that Angel, it's not too late for you and your Dad" I tell

"But it is Riddoc, I'm an adult now, I look after myself and I have you. I have a life and whole new family, a family that I'm starting with you. Your parents are so good to me and I love Willow like a sister. This is my family, My time being Daddy's little girl is long gone and I'm ok with that"

"You are?"

"Yeah, it's all ok, I'm over it. You know why because I'm happy. He lived his life and it upset me that it wasn't with me but I can't judge him for that. My father will be a part of my life when he's ready to be and not before. And I'm happy to just let that happen now. It's like all of the bullshit that got me here doesn't even matter, because I'm here with you and I'm happy. Does that make any sense?" she asks and I smile

"Of course it does Angel. I'm glad you're happy. And if Marina wants to come and live with us then I'm happy with that too, you know I love that kid" I shrug and she smiles.

"Are you sure because we can think this over as long as you need" Adrian tells me

"I know, but I'm ok with it, I'm actually really up for it. So it's your choice Angel, I'll go with whatever you decide" I tell her and she practically jumps into my lap sealing her lips over mine.

Two weeks later Marina came to stay with us and she never went back to San Francisco, we moved her stuff into the attic bedroom and she loved her new room. I was tense over meeting Leo again, but to my surprise he shook my hand and apologised for his behaviour the first time we met. Leo had wanted to avoid all the legal bullshit as much as possible, he made Adrian Marina's second legal guardian and they now shared joint custody of her. When Leo was on leave Marina would stay with him but the majority of the time she lived with us.

Marina started first grade this September with little Megan Ateara, those two had quickly become best friends forever, having sleepovers and whispering to one an other. The biggest shock though was when Collin came to the house to meet me for Patrol and ended up imprinting on Marina. I quickly dragged him outside and beat the crap out of him. I felt very protective of Marina; I saw her half like a daughter and half like a baby sister. Either way I was enraged at the thought of him any where near her, Adrian had been the one to remind me not to think of imprinting as a romantic thing. I calmed down after a couple days and now Adrian's talked me into letting Collin baby-sit so we can go out for dates on Friday nights. It's an arrangement that seems to be working out for eveybody.

Leah had a beautiful baby girl, she and Embry named her Danielle, and she looks just like Embry, poor kid. She was two weeks late and Kim had to force Leah's water to break. As you can imagine Leah was a joy to be around by the end of her pregnancy. Embry actually ended up crashing on Dad's sofa a couple of times just to keep from tearing his hair out, or Leah's it was hard to tell at times.

Adrian and I have been dating now for eighteen months, today is exactly a year and a half since we had our first date, and tonight I'm going to ask her to marry me. I'm nervous as hell, not because I think she'll say no but because I'm scared she might think it's too fast and say something worse then no like 'not now'. She had no idea about tonight I was gonna pick her up from work then drop it on her that I was taking her out and she had an hour to be ready.

Everything was going according to plan until I walked into the Surf Shack and saw Adrian sat on a stool on the stage with a band that wasn't hers. I recognised the song after a second it was the track she'd worked on in LA with her friend Josh, so this was Josh and his band. She didn't tell me they were coming to La Push, maybe she didn't know.

I stood at the back of the bar and listened, just watching my angel up there in her element, she loved the Surf Shack but performing and writing music was what made her really happy. Adrian sang and I closed my eyes at the sound of her voice, it was nice to hear it live without being matched with a heavy drum beat and fast guitar rifts. She said Josh's music wasn't really her usual taste, but I liked it, her voice and a country band somehow just worked. _"You've been closing me in, closing the space in my heart.  
Watching us fading and watching it all fall apart"_ I hated the lyrics when she first played the track to me because her singing such a sad song hurt my heart but she hadn't written the lyrics and I stopped being a baby about it after a while. _"Such a beautiful myth, that's breaking my skin. Well I'll hide all the bruises; I'll hide all the damage that's done. But I show how I'm feeling until all the feeling has gone" _

Then Adrian spots me and her eyes sparkle, I love how happy she is to see me, I love how one look from her makes my chest feel tight and my heart race. I love the way her face lights up like I'm her hero or something. I just love her, she's my everything.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

"Yeah, Alright give it up for our girl Adrian!" the man I assume is Josh shouts out to the packed bar and they all cheer and applaud. He turns to Adrian and grins "How about one more song for our wonderful audience?" he asks her and she smiles that gorgeous smile of hers.

"Josh no" she laughs, you can tell from the way they interact with each other that they're close old friends. The audience cheers loudly and encourages Adrian to agree, Josh scoots over to the other band members and whispers something to them. He walks back to the centre of the stage and pulls Adrian up off the stool by her hand.

"You're not gonna wanna sit down for this one Darlin'" he laughs and the band starts up. I know the song but I can't figure out from where. Then it hits me it's a cheesy, lame, country song that Adrian loves I can't remember the band but I'm pretty sure the song is called 'life is a highway', the girl can't shower without singing it.

Josh sings the first verse and then he and Adrian sing the chorus together. I'm happy she's having fun, and I'm happy she's happy but a little selfish part of me wants her off that stage and in my arms.

Adrian can't get off the stage fast enough when the songs over she shoves her way through the crowd with her eyes locked on mine, she's got this great big grin on her face and I can't help but match it

When she reaches me she jumps into my arms and I grab her by the backs her thighs and she wraps her legs around me, kissing me like her life depended on it. She pulls back and smiles at me. "Riddoc I have the best news, I'm so excited!" she says giddily. I feel the blood drain out of me and disappointment rock though me. I knew what she was about to say, she'd been talking about touring in Germany with the band for a while now, I could tell she really wanted to go but she felt like she shouldn't because of Marina. I'd told she should go if she really wanted to but I had secretly hoped she wouldn't. And now that it was actually happening I was about ready to do anything to keep her here.

"No Angel" I beg "I can't take that again, Angel I mean it you can't leave me like that again it nearly killed me last time. If you're going on tour again I'm coming with you this time. I love you" I tell her. Trying so hard to get my words out I'm almost falling over them.

"Riddoc?" she laughs "I love you too, and I'm not going on tour" she tells me and I sigh in relief, it wasn't surprising I'd jumped to that conclusion last time she'd ran up to me all excited like this it was to tell me she was going to England for two months.

"Oh thank God" I sigh "So what is it? What's the exciting news?" I ask and she bites her lip.

"Well…" she starts and I can tell she's a little nervous

"Adrian tell me? You were super excited a second ago" I say

"I know but now I'm worried you might not think this is as great as I do" she says and bites her lip again. I smile and pull her lip from between her teeth with my finger a thumb.

"If you're happy I'm happy, now tell me" I say and she takes a deep breath.

"Ok, I'm pregnant" she says, I feel my mouth fall open and I nearly drop her. It's loud in the bar but I'm a wolf, I don't exactly mishear people but she can't have said what I think she just said.

"Are you serious?" I ask

"Yeah" she breathes "Are you ok?"

"I… I don't know I think so" I say

"I found out this morning, I couldn't wait until we got home later I had to tell you now, I wanted to jump off of stage in the middle of the song and tell you as soon as you walked in" Adrian smiles but I'm still a little lost for words. I suddenly put Adrian on her feet and take her hand. I lead her outside and all the way up to the end of the pier.

We reach the end and the sun is setting beautifully, it's not as romantic as I had planned but it doesn't matter if I don't do this now she'll think I'm only asking because we're having a baby. Oh my God we're having a baby that sounds crazy even in my head.

I drop to one knee and she laughs, I roll my eyes knowing exactly what she's about to say, "Riddoc what are you doing we do not have to get married just because I'm knocked up" she laughs, I scowl at her

"Don't say it like that" I say and the pull the little blue velvet box out of my jeans pocket. Her eyes widen.

"What is that?" she asks and I smirk

"What do you think it is" I laugh

"Why do you have that?"

"Because I was going to ask you to marry me tonight believe it or not" I say and I've never seen Adrian look more shocked.

"Are you serious?" she asks echoing my words from earlier; I smile at her and nod. "Riddoc are you sure, you don't have to just because we're having a baby, it's not frowned upon these days if we don't you know" she laughs.

"Adrian what did I just say, I was going to ask you tonight, I had this whole thing planned, I was a hundred percent sure before and knowing you're having my baby has only doubled that" I tell her. I look down at her flat stomach and smile. I shuffle towards her on my knees and place my hands on her stomach. "Our baby is inside you right now, how insane is that?" I say looking up at her and she grins back "I can barely get my head around it"

"It's a lot isn't it?" she asks but I shake my head

"No, it's great, it's just a shock. I thought we were being safe but apparently not safe enough" I smirk up at her and she laughs

"Yeah apparently not" she says and knots her fingers in my hair. I place a kiss on her stomach.

"So?" I ask

"What?" she says and I snort a laugh

"Are you gonna leave me hanging all night or are you gonna marry me?" I ask, I watch as she bites her lip to try and keep her smile under control.

"I'll marry you" she smiles, I'm on my feet as fast as my body will allow and I press my lips against hers. She pulls me against her and flicks her tongue out to meet mine. I pull back and open the little box to show her the ring, she gasps and covers her mouth with her hands.

The ring isn't much, it's all I could afford and probably nothing like the golf ball sized rock she'd always dreamt of, just a simple white gold band with one big emerald cut diamond in the middle and two smaller ones either side of it. "God Riddoc it's gorgeous" she gushes and I smile, glad and relieved she likes it. I slip it on her finger and I want to do a little dance or a fist pump or something when it slips into place perfectly.

"It fits" I say and she smiles

"I love it" she tells me

"Where's Marina?"I ask

"She's inside filling salt shakers and watching Josh and the guys play" Adrian says

"Let's go get her and go home, does she know about the baby?" I ask

"No of course not, I wanted you to be the first to know" she tells me and I smile, kissing her again.

"God I really can't stop smiling" I say to her and we both laugh.

"I Love you" she breathes and presses her lips against mine

"I love you too Angel" I tell her then pull her against me.


	31. Chapter 31

The second those two little words left her mouth I felt like my face would split in two I was smiling so hard, I couldn't stop it, my grin was so stupid and so big that my cheeks hurt. But I didn't give a shit because Adrian's face was mirroring mine, only she had her bottom lip clamped between her teeth as she tried desperately to pull on the reins and look less like a crazy person, but I didn't care if we looked crazy, we were happy. I waited for Dad to say the next line, as Alpha we decided to have him marry us. I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas he seemed to be taking forever, he smiled at both of us then told me what I was dying to hear, that Adrian was officially my wife.

He didn't have to tell me what to do next; I stepped towards my Angel and kissed her pulling her against me and sliding my hands into her hair. She grabbed the lapels of my tux and kissed me back just as eagerly. I hadn't even given my Dad time to say I could kiss her much to the amusement of our guests. "I guess you can kiss the bride then" Dad says causing everyone to erupt in another wave of laughter.

I still didn't care I bent my knees and picked my new wife up in the typical way you should carry a bride so I wouldn't have to bend to kiss her. Everyone may as well settle in because I planned on kissing her for a very long time, at least I did until Dad prized me off of her. Adrian was blushing crimson but still smiling.

The reception was held at the Surf Shack after the ceremony on the beach. All our family and friends were invited, Adrian's band, her friend Josh and her friend Sophia who she'd met in England. When Adrian had introduced me to Sophia the first words out of her mouth had been "How the hell did you get a man like that and where can I get one?"

After that comment Adrian burst out laughing and decided she wanted another bridesmaid and Sophia eagerly accepted. Of course Marina was a bridesmaid, Megan too and they both loved it. Leo couldn't make it but Adrian wasn't too upset about that, it was her Dad not being there to give her away that really upset her. When he told her he wasn't gonna be able to come I'd taken the phone off of her and torn him a new one, I told him if he couldn't make the effort for his daughters wedding day then he wasn't welcome in her life. I know that wasn't my decision to make but I was pissed and Adrian didn't object.

If our little bump turned out to be a girl I would never be like him, I saw what it did to Adrian and because of it I hated a man I'd never even met. I'd never let my daughter feel like I didn't want her in my life, and I'd never put my life before her. But it was too soon to tell the sex of the baby so for now Adrian and I are still guessing, but we both really want to know. I want a little girl but Adrian want a boy.

She was only two months along, you couldn't really tell she was pregnant by looking at her at all, that was one of Adrian's stipulations for the wedding, we could get married before the baby came as long as she didn't look pregnant in her wedding photographs and as long as she could have all of her drinks in a champagne flute so she didn't feel left out.

Throwing a wedding together and having it perfect in a month turned out to be a tall order and I had to call in the big guns, A.K.A Alice and Willow. It paid off in the end because Adrian was really happy. Unexpectedly Adrian and Rosalie became really good friends and she loved the rest of my family too and they loved her. It was nice to have everyone together again even if it was just for the wedding.

Shila's best man speech was inspired and had everybody laughing he told the worst story about one time in collage when he Miles and I had been out drinking and I'd gotten shit faced drunk and decided to go skinny dipping in the fountain. Needless to say Shila and Miles who were less drunk ran off with my clothes. All I knew was I had to get back to our dorm before someone caught me streaking through Portland and hope someone would buzz me into the building. I had nothing to cover myself with so used the only thing I could find which was a plastic carrier bag. Little did I know Shila and Miles had arrived back at the dorm only for the fire alarm to go off. The entire building was evacuated onto the street most of them in their pyjamas and that's when I show up with a plastic bag over my junk, it was one of the most embarrassing nights of my life. I glance at Adrian when Shila's done and she's laughing at me.

When it was time for Adrian to throw her bouquet the few single and unmarried women in the room lined up behind her there wasn't many because most of them where imprints and already married. I hear Misty mutter under her breath and tilt my head to catch what she's saying "I'm so getting that bouquet" she says and I chuckle I look over at Seth and he's smirking, I know he's heard her too.

"I think she's trying to tell you something" I say and Seth laughs.

"You think?" he grins.

Adrian threw the bouquet and it was like feeding time at the zoo, the women went crazy the last time I'd seen something this frightening I'd been dragged to the Mall with my Mom and Alice, there was a sale on and the women were animals. I remember watching my Aunt Alice prise another woman's fingers off a pair of Jimmy choos looking ready to sink her fangs in if she had too. Misty lunged for the white roses as they tumbled to the ground but Adrian's friend Sophia got there first. She held it up in the air and jumped up and down "Yeah mother bitches!" Sophia shouts and Adrian falls into a fit of giggles before cheering.

Next thing I know the guests are clearing the dance floor and it's my turn, they place a chair in the middle and Kai lead's Adrian over to it, she sits down and slowly pulls the skirt of her dress up to her thighs, watching me with a sexy smirk the whole time. A few of the guys whoop and I shoot Miles a glare when he whistles loudly through his fingers, I try to remind myself it's all in good fun.

I get down on one knee in front of Adrian a push her dress aside to reveal her garter. She giggles. "Seems like just yesterday I was in this very position" I whisper to her and she smiles wider. I dip my head and take the garter between my teeth and start to slide it down her leg. I take her leg and lift it a little, sliding the garter all the way to her knee kissing and nipping at her skin as I go, I'm subtle about it but when I glance up Adrian I can tell by the look in her eyes she's noticed. I slip her high heel off and Adrian drapes her leg over my shoulder getting a cheer from the men and a howl of laughter from the women, I swear I hear Claire drunkenly squeal with delight. Once the garters off I hold it in the air a twirl it around my finger, the single men crowd together and with my finger and thumb I ping it towards them.

Miles practically leap frogs off of Trey and grabs it mid air. He holds it up in triumph and I try not to be annoyed he's the one who caught it. Adrian pulls me to her and kisses me "easy" she tells me with a smirk "Rein that wolf back in" she laughs and I hug her to me forcing myself to calm down.

Half way through mine and Adrian's millionth dance of the night she grabs Sophia's wrist as we pass her, she drags her over to where Miles is stood and throws her into his arms, she trips and Miles only just catches her. Their eyes meet and I don't know who's more surprised Miles or me and Adrian. Adrian turns to me wide eyed. "Did what I think just happened really just happen?" she asks and I laugh, I nod and she laughs too. She covers her mouth with her hand. "Oh my God, I am really good at matchmaking" she says and I laugh.

"Yeah you should start an imprint dating service" I joke and she grins, she snuggles into my chest and I kiss her hair. I watch Miles and Sophia introducing themselves and awkwardly apologising for a minuet then rest my head against the top of Adrian's. I sigh content, looks like I'm not the only one everything was falling into place for.

A while later I'm sat at our table with my gorgeous wife in my lap, we were just watching our family and friends dance and enjoy themselves. Adrian leaned over to whisper in my ear and I perked up to listen to her. "Are you ok? Do you wanna go?" she asks, I pull back to look at her

"What no!" I insist, she smiles and leans forward to whisper in my ear again.

"Under this I'm wearing blue for you" she tells me, her breath tickling my neck. I briefly fantasized over that then stood up swiftly with her in my arms.

"Everybody! The bride and groom's leaving!" I announce to the party, Adrian giggles and pulls my lips to her, in that moment I couldn't be happier. I'd just married my soul mate, who just happened to be the most beautiful woman in the world and we were having a baby together. I didn't know what was yet to come for us but it was gonna be good, I could just tell.


	32. Chapter 32

Epilogue

"Daddy!" my five year old screams excitedly and in the next second I feel little hands and feet on my back. I groan and turn my face into my pillow.

"Riddoc?" Adrian mumbles sleepily next to me, "Your child wants you"

I laugh as said child starts incessantly jumping up and down on the bed "My child? don't you mean our child?" I ask

"No" she says with a yawn "At half past six in the morning that little monster is all yours, it's Saturday" she says and rolls over. I roll onto my back and my son Max dives knees first onto my chest. I sit up and grab Max, I pick him up by his ankle and stand up with him just dangling there, he wriggles and laughs.

"So tell me little monster, what are you waking me and your mother up for?" I say and pretend to drop him, he squeals then laughs hysterically.

"You promised we'd go a get a tree today with Marina!" he pants out of breath

"Baby if he hurls you're cleaning it up" Adrian tells me from under the covers, I turn Max the right way up and carry him out of the bedroom and down stairs. I'm about to drop him on the sofa when I see Collin laid there, I grumble and put Max on the armchair instead.

I turn and give Collin a quick kick in the side, he groans and turns away from me, I sigh then look over my shoulder at my son, "I'll let you have candy before breakfast if you wake Collin up for me" I tell him, he smiles at me.

"Will you tell Mom?" Max asks me and I smile, I make a gesture of sealing my lips then tossing the imaginary key over my shoulder. Max giggles then jumps up out of the armchair.

"Is Marina up yet?" I ask him

"No, I tried but she told me to get the F... hell out of her room" Max tells me.

"was that a cuss little man?" I ask and his eyes widen

"No" he shakes his head vigorously from side to side

"It sounded like one, what did Grandpa Jake tell you about cussing?"

"That if he caught me talking like that he make me do a chore for every cuss" he says, I turn my back so he won't see me smirking then I wonder down the hall to Marina's room. I knock on the door.

"What?" she shouts and I let myself in.

"You coming to get a tree with me and Max today?" I ask her

"Do I have to?" she says sarcastically, Marina was twelve but sometimes she acted like she thought she was sixteen or something.

"No not if you don't want to, Adrian's sleeping I don't think she's up to it today but I'm sure she won't mind if you wanna stay home" I shrug.

"Ok I'll come" Marina says and I smile.

"Ok, get up and get dressed then" I say then shut the door. It seemed the older Marina got the more difficult she got too, she wasn't a bad kid though, and I personally thought me and Adrian were doing ok.

When I walked back into the living room Max was screaming and red in the face while Collin tickled him. "Dad! Help me!" he gasps between giggles.

"You got yourself into that mess" I tell him

"Dad!"

"Let him up Col" I say and Collin lets Max go. Max rockets off into the kitchen and I turn on Collin. "What the hell you dong here? Again?"

"I had patrol, it was a long way home" Collin shrugs

"Yeah and you wanted to be near Marina" I say "if I catch you on my sofa again I'm gonna start charging you rent" I tell him.

"Come on Duck?"

"No, she's not to know, she's twelve Collin, twelve!"

"Yeah I know that" he frowns at me

"Do you?" I snap, Marina knew about the wolves she knew everything but I'd been adamant that I didn't want her knowing about the imprint. If she was gonna end up with Collin one day, it was gonna be because she choose it, not because Collin told her she was his soul mate and she felt like she had no other choice. I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. "Just back off, I want Marina to have options other than you" I tell him and he looks hurt. "Don't pull that face, when she's older don't you want her to be with you because she choose it not because you were her only option?" I ask

"Duck? I'm incapable of even thinking about that right now, she's a child I love her like a little sister nothing more you know that. I'm sorry I'm here a lot invading your happy family, but I have to know that she's safe and happy, it drives me crazy if I don't know how she is. You don't get it you and Adrian were the same age when you met"

"No I don't get it, if it's sympathy you want go talk to Quill or Shila? They know about that shit" I snap

"She won't figure it out if that's what you're worried about, I don't want her to know either" he tells me

"You don't?" I ask surprised

"Hell no, all I want is to protect her, when she's older if things change between us then they change, but they only ever will if she wants them to" Collin says. "Are we ok?" he asks

"Yeah, we're ok" I say and walk into the kitchen.

I see Max sat on the kitchen counter stuffing a peanut butter cup in his mouth. "How many of those have you had?" I ask Max and a guilty look spreads across his face.

"One" he says and I can hear the lie in his voice. I smirk

"Ok, no more, Collin's gonna make you and Marina breakfast ok?" I say

"I am?" Collin asks waking in behind me

"You are if you wanna come get a Christmas tree with us today" I tell him "Marina's coming" I add and he smiles

"Ok" he agrees and I roll my eyes, what a sucker.

"I'm gonna grab a shower!" I call to them and head back upstairs to mine and Adrian's bedroom. When I get there Adrian is still asleep on her side, she's been so tired lately. I bend over and kiss her forehead and brush her hair back from her face before heading into the attached bathroom to shower.

Things sure have changed over the last six years. Leah and Embry hadn't been able to have any more children but not for lack of trying, Seth and Misty were happily married but had never really considered having Children, Shila proposed to Lucinda a few months ago and Brady and Willow were still living in New York. Willow had gotten into NYU after high school and attended Tisch school of the arts there. She was starring in a low budget production of Wicked right now, Willow was playing the good witch, we all missed her and Brady but she was happy and I was happy for her.

I used my engineering degree to help Dad expand the Garage business; it was booming now and doing really well. Adrian never finished her solo album she was too busy marrying me and having Max, she said she'd go back to it one day. She was writing music for other people now instead, she liked it. She still had the Surf Shack, and it made good money, though Misty mostly ran the place for Adrian now so she could work on her music at home and be with the kids, it was an arrangement that suited everybody.

Adrian's Father showed up in La Push two years ago he and Adrian had a blazing row and since then he only showed up for holidays. He was stationed in Hawaii now; Adrian wanted to go visit him some time soon with the kids. They were all really excited about it and I kind of was too, Hawaii would be a nice change from rainy La Push that was for sure. I was just a little concerned about seeing Mr Fox again, last time we met he'd made it obvious he didn't like me.

I turned the water off and stepped out wrapping a towel around my waist. Adrian is sat up in the bed now sipping at a cup of tea. It's that herbal stuff that smells like ass but the doctors said it was good for her so I don't complain about the smell. I wonder how she got it then hear Collin retreating down the stairs; I roll my eyes and think 'Ass Kisser'.

"Damn, my husband's ripped" Adrian smirks at me. I look down at my stomach, my abs are still there even though I stopped phasing when Max was born, partly because I didn't want to miss anything and partly because I wanted to keep up with Adrian age wise. When we were old I wanted us to be old together. I guess my body hasn't changed too much in six years I'm only twenty eight, is that old?

I smile at my Angel and walk over to the bed. "And my wife is smokin' hot" I wink at her at sit on the bed next to her.

"No I'm not, look at me I'm fucking huge" she pouts and I laugh

"Angel you're allowed to be, there is two of them in there. Besides I love seeing you pregnant" I tell her, I pull the covers back and stroke her round tummy. "Did you sleep any better last night?" I ask

"No, your children were kicking the crap out of me again" she says and I wince. "I think one of them is definitely gonna be a kick boxer" she says and we laugh together.

"I'm sorry; I wish I could help more"

"I think you've done enough" she laughs and I grin.

"I told you, I like you Pregnant" I shrug

"I think you just like getting me pregnant" she says and I laugh

"Well that too" I nod. I take the cup of tea off of her and place it on the nightstand. I kiss her lips gently and cup her face with my hands. "I love you so much Angel, I'm so fucking lucky"

"You are?" she asks and I nod again.

"You love me, you married me, you brought Marina into our lives and gave me an amazing son, and now you're giving me two more beautiful babies, thank you Angel" I say and kiss her again.

"Riddoc what if they come on Christmas day" she asks pulling away from my lips, I smile at her.

"Baby they're not gonna come on Christmas, you've got a week to go yet" I remind her

"Yeah I guess" she sighs

"Does it feel like it might be soon?" I ask, Max had come early but only by a few days. the doctor had warned us twins had a habit of coming early.

"I don't know"

"Maybe I should get a tree with the kids tomorrow" I say but Adrian shakes her head

"Riddoc it's Christmas eve tomorrow. And I'm ok, they're not gonna come today, I've got a fifty on Christmas day, while you're carving the turkey" she laughs

"Well it would make a good story" I tell her

"Anyway Claire and Leah are coming over this afternoon I'll be fine" she assures me. I kiss her again and move over her.

Collin, Marina, Max and I pilled into Adrian's Hilux, not the shitty old one that was failing apart I'd bought her a new one as a Wedding gift, same colour, same everything just a newer model, she loved it. Marina and Max sang Christmas songs the whole way there.

We pulled off the road and down the track to an area of the forest a couple of hours outside of La Push where there was a lot of pines. The kids took off running and laughing as soon as we stopped; it took forever to find one that would actually fit in the house. Adrian had told me to just take the kids to a tree yard so they could pick one but I refused, when I was a kid Dad would take me and Willow into the forest and let us pick a tree, then he'd cut it down and drag it back to the house with his bare hands, I used to think it was the coolest thing ever.

Now that Max was old enough to really remember this Christmas I wanted him to have those memories too.

"This one, this one, this one!" Max shouts jumping up and down. I look over and give the tree a once over, it's not that bad actually.

"You know what little man? I think you're right, this is the one" I tell him and he jumps up and down again. Marina's mouth falls open when I pull a chainsaw out the bed of the pick up.

"Dad! What is that?" Max laughs

"Oh my God Dad can't you just use an axe!" Marina says. I freeze and so does she, Collin's eyes widen and he looks between me and Marina. Marina covers her mouth with her hands. "I'm sorry" she says quickly.

"It's ok Sweetie" I tell her. Marina had called me dad once before but I don't think she meant to. She was eight years old when it happened. It was the first time I'd had the kids on my own for any real amount of time, Adrian was in New York for a week working and staying with Willow and Brady. That day the school had called me telling me Marina had the Flu and had to come home. She was really tired and spent most of the day in bed sleeping, and when she was awake she was sneezing and coughing. I went to tuck her in that night and say goodnight, she'd woken up long enough to say goodnight back, although her eyes had been closed and she was half asleep. But she mumbled "Thanks Dad" to me. I'd never brought it up since, I never even told Adrian about it.

I quickly moved to Marina's side, I ruffled her hair and bent to kiss her on the head, I didn't want Marina to be embarrassed about that, but I didn't want her to think she couldn't call me Dad if she wanted to. "Alright let's get us a tree" I say and Max cheers.

"Can I do it Dad?" Max asks

"No you can not, sorry kiddo, go stand with Collin and Marina ok" I tell him he scurries off and then I fire up the chainsaw.

We stopped by the store to pick up some extra lights and candy canes as per Marina's request then picked up some take out on the way home, Collin managed to convince me to let him stay for Dinner.

I was anxious to get home I could feel weird vibes coming off Adrian because of the imprint. She was worried and feeling something a kin to pain. She must just be really uncomfortable because of the babies but I still wanted to get back to my angel as quickly as possible.

It was a lot later than I thought it was when we finally started heading in the direction of home. We'd spent most of the day searching for a tree, I was glad I'd had the foresight to pack lunch.

My heart stops as we pull up in the driveway, there's an ambulance parked outside my house. "Is that an ambulance?" Marina asks leaning forward in her seat

"Cool" Max says sitting up to get a look, the kid loves Ambulances and fire engines and that stuff, basically anything with flashing lights and a siren. I unbuckle my seat belt and climb out of the pick up.

"Stay in the truck with Collin" I tell the kids then run to the house, I barge through the front door and see a paramedic coming down the stairs. Where was Adrian? I silently begged and prayed that she was ok.

"Duck? Is that you?" I hear Leah call and then she appears at the top of the stairs.

"Lee what's going on? Why is there an ambulance here? Where's Adrian?" I splutter in one shaky breath.

"She's upstairs come on?" Leah says and holds her hand out to me; I take the stairs two at a time and grab her hand. Leah leads me to mine and Adrian's bedroom. She pushes the door open and my jaw drops.

Adrian's lied in the middle of the bed looking sleepy with a little baby in her arms; I see Claire sat in the rocking chair with the other baby. Adrian's eyes fall on me and she smiles. Another paramedic is sat on the bed next to Adrian taking her blood pressure; the Paramedic takes the arm band off of Adrian and stands up. "You're fine Mrs Black" he tells her, I still getting tingles when someone calls her by my name. He walks towards me and shakes my hand "Congratulations Mr. Black" he says then leaves, I still can't even talk.

"You ok Duck?" Leah asks and I nod, I see Leah give Claire a look and Claire stands up, she gives the baby to Adrian so she's holding both. "We'll give you two a minuet" Leah says and she shuts the door behind her and Claire.

"Well do you wanna come over and meet our babies or what?" Adrian laughs lightly. I shuffle over and sit on the bed next to her.

"I can't believe they're here, I can't believe I missed it, how long were we gone?" I ask, Adrian glances at the clock on the nightstand, it's seven thirty.

"A while" she smiles "My water broke just after you left, I tried to call but I couldn't get through" she explains and I nod, that was understandable cell reception around here was atrocious.

"I'm sorry Angel" I say "Was it ok? You're all ok?"

"You heard the Doc" she says and I sigh in relief "It was a very sudden, very painful, very natural birth. I wanted to go to the hospital but the paramedic said I was too far along and that it was happening here weather I liked it or not" she laughs. "Leah and Claire were amazing I don't know what I'd have done without them. However I'm on bed rest and Carlisle said he's be here in the morning, Kim's gonna come check on me when she get's off work too" Adrian tells me and I breathe a sigh of relief, I'll feel a lot better when I've heard that she's ok from Carlisle.

"What types are they?" I ask looking down at our new babies, God they're so fucking cute. Adrian and I had wanted to be surprised this time so we waited to find out the sex of the twins.

"This one's a boy" she tells me gesturing at the baby on the left. "And this one is a girl"

"Oh my god one of each that's so perfect, now we have two of each" I say, Adrian looks up at me and her eyes fill with tears

"I love you" she says, I lean down and kiss her.

"I love you too. What are we gonna call them, Do we still like Travis?" I ask and she nods

"Yeah, but what about the girl?" she asks

"I don't know, we could never agree on a girls names" I sigh.

"What about Isabelle? Like your Grandmother do you think she would mind, I love that name" she says, I run over it my mind not convinced.

"What and Bella for short?" I ask "I don't know Adrian" I say sceptically, She shakes her head no.

"No I like Izzy" she says and I smile, I definitely like that.

"That sounds perfect angel. I love you so much, and I love this life we've made" I tell her and kiss her again. I really was just the luckiest son of a bitch that ever lived. Probably not a lot of people could tell you their life was perfect but mine really was.


End file.
